And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.

And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.

Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar!

Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar!

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.

Fame is only good for one thing- they will cash your check in a small town.

Fame is only good for one thing- they will cash your check in a small town.

In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names.

In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names.

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.]

Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us footprints on read more

Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.

Were not this desire of fame very strong, the difficulty of
obtaining it, and the danger of losing it read more

Were not this desire of fame very strong, the difficulty of
obtaining it, and the danger of losing it when obtained, would be
sufficient to deter a man from so vain a pursuit.

Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana; he is almost
lost that built it.

Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana; he is almost
lost that built it.