After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument
than why I have one.

After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument
than why I have one.

When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you
will command the attention of read more

When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you
will command the attention of the world.

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.

Scarcely two hundred years back can Fame recollect articulately
at all; and there she but maunders and mumbles.

Scarcely two hundred years back can Fame recollect articulately
at all; and there she but maunders and mumbles.

And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.

And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.

O Fame!--if I e'er took delight in thy praises,
'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases,
read more

O Fame!--if I e'er took delight in thy praises,
'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases,
Than to see the bright eyes of the dear one discover
She thought that I was not unworthy to love her.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

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.

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it.

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it.