If fame belonged to me, I could not escape her; if she did not, the longest day would pass me on the chase, and the approbation of my dog would forsake me then. My barefoot rank is better.

If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.

Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I’ve experienced them both.

We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.

Some people are very good at being ‚stars‘ and it suits them. I’m grudging about it and I find it annoying.

I was an overnight sensation.

Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy of men.

I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.

Fame is like caviar, you know – it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.

And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he’s no longer God… They’ll turn on him, and I hope he survives it.

Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.

The Internet made fame wack and anonymity cool.

The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.

Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.

The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the world with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang.

Only the public can make a star. It’s the studios who try to make a system out of it.

I’ve never had that much trouble with the paparazzi, but I don’t run the same circles that a lot of these people that do get hounded by the paparazzi.

I always like to create things that get attention. It used to be a problem when I wasn’t famous. Now, I can do whatever I want and people have to accept it.

Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.

Humility is not something that comes naturally. But it is a cardinal virtue that should be pursued more than any other.

Martyrdom: The only way a man can become famous without ability.

I never wanted to be Marilyn – it just happened. Marilyn’s like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.

Some artists are working to buy the mansion or whatever the element of fame must bear, but I spend all my money on my show.

I like to think of Everest as a great mountaineering challenge, and when you’ve got people just streaming up the mountain – well, many of them are just climbing it to get their name in the paper, really.

I don’t have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don’t know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don’t know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don’t think you need all that stuff.

The present condition of fame is merely fashion.

When you’re a pop star, it’s a little conservative; you always have to stay in a box. You have fans that are five and fans that are 65; there are so many people wanting so many things.

If I became a philosopher, if I have so keenly sought this fame for which I’m still waiting, it’s all been to seduce women basically.

With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it’s their fault.

But in truth, should I meet with gold or spices in great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as much as possible, and for this purpose I am proceeding solely in quest of them.

Fame hit me like a ton of bricks.

Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.

There’s Madeleine, and then there’s ‚Madeleine Albright‘. And I sometimes kind of think, who is this person? Once you become ‚Madeleine Albright‘ it doesn’t go away.

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.

To be famous, in fact, one has only to kill one’s landlady.

I went through every emotion with tryna pursue what I’m doing, you know what I mean? And I think what’s gon‘ separate whoever’s gon go for something, that you ain’t gon‘ quit.

I wanted to have the adoration of John Lennon but have the anonymity of Ringo Starr. I didn’t want to be a frontman. I just wanted to be back there and still be a rock and roll star at the same time.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Before I was famous, when I was just working in Gilbert’s Lodge, everything was moving in slow motion.

I would never say I was an icon, but so many people have said I am, so I suppose I am. I mean, I can’t not be what everyone says I am. But I don’t feel like an icon.

The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.

Celebrity is ridiculous and silly and it’s mad that people like me are listened to – you know, rap stars and movie stars.

Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.

The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you.

There can be no two opinions as to what a highbrow is. He is the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

I wanted to use my fame and this face that everyone knows so well to help uplift and inspire people around the world.

I don’t like Los Angeles. The people are awful and terribly shallow, and everybody wants to be famous but nobody wants to play the game. I’m from New York. I will kill to get what I need.

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

I get really restless when I haven’t worked for a day and a half. I have a recurring dream that people are lined up next to my bed, waiting for autographs and taking pictures of me!

The moment I said I’d finished a book, I knew what would happen. There would be a bidding war, and I would end up with someone who’d got the fattest wallet, who had bought it because I’d written Harry Potter. That would have been why.

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

When I started out, I didn’t have any desire to be an actress or to learn how to act. I just wanted to be famous.

These critics with the illusions they’ve created about artists – it’s like idol worship. They only like people when they’re on their way up… I cannot be on the way up again.

Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground.

A lot of the problems I had with fame I was bringing on myself. A lot of self-loathing, a lot of woe-is-me. Now I’m learning to see the positive side of things, instead of, like, ‚I can’t go to Kmart. I can’t take my kids to the haunted house.‘

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.

Sometimes I’m fascinated with how famous my work could be while I’m not so famous.

Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as the dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily tamed, as the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as the goose. Some are jealous and fond of ornament, as the peacock.

A statesman who confines himself to popular legislation – or, for the matter of that, a playwright who confines himself to popular plays – is like a blind man’s dog who goes wherever the blind man pulls him, on the ground that both of them want to go to the same place.