What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some read more

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some liken it to climbing up a hill,
Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour:
For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,
And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper,"
To have, when the original is dust,
A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty read more

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty pride to the great names of antiquity.

The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it.

The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it.

I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the roster of Those Who Do read more

I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do any thing. Not one single thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.

All your renown is like the summer flower that blooms and dies;
because the sunny glow which brings it read more

All your renown is like the summer flower that blooms and dies;
because the sunny glow which brings it forth, soon slays with
parching power.
[It., La vostra nominanza e color d'erba,
Che viene e va; e quei la discolora
Per cui ell' esce della terra acerba.]

Your fame shall (spite of proverbs) make it plain
To write in water's not to write in vain.

Your fame shall (spite of proverbs) make it plain
To write in water's not to write in vain.

Fame - a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not to be depended on.

Fame - a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not to be depended on.

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

The best-concerted schemes men lay for fame,
Die fast away: only themselves die faster.
The far-fam'd sculptor, read more

The best-concerted schemes men lay for fame,
Die fast away: only themselves die faster.
The far-fam'd sculptor, and the laurell'd bard,
Those bold insurancers of deathless fame,
Supply their little feeble aids in vain.