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.

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.]

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.

A niche in the temple of Fame.

A niche in the temple of Fame.

To myself alone do I owe my fame.
[Fr., Je ne dois qu'a moi seul toute ma renommee.]

To myself alone do I owe my fame.
[Fr., Je ne dois qu'a moi seul toute ma renommee.]

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.

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.

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.