If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.

If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.

Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a
probability of such: it is an read more

Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a
probability of such: it is an accident, not a property of a man.

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!

The fame you earn has a different taste from the fame that is forced upon you.

The fame you earn has a different taste from the fame that is forced upon you.

Even the best things are not equal to their fame.

Even the best things are not equal to their fame.

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.]

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.

Fame always brings loneliness. Success is as ice cold and lonely as the North Pole.

Fame always brings loneliness. Success is as ice cold and lonely as the North Pole.

The present condition of fame is merely fashion.

The present condition of fame is merely fashion.