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.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

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.

Only Americans can hurt America.

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

In many ways, when you’re a Nobel peace laureate, you have an obligation to humankind, to society.

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

I just hope people don’t get sick of us. I’m sick of us and I’m in Destiny’s Child.

But I think there are a set of experiences that turn a potential writer into a working writer, and then there are places in your life were you start to recognize what you want to do.

The movies are the only business where you can go out front and applaud yourself.

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

Ever since I started to get recognition I’ve picked out certain fans and reverse-stalked them.

Americans are far more remarkable than we give ourselves credit for. We’ve been so busy damning ourselves for years. We’ve done it all, and yet we don’t take credit for it.

The Internet made fame wack and anonymity cool.

I do get recognized, but I must say Edinburgh is a fantastic city to live if you’re well-known. There is an innate respect for privacy in Edinburgh people, and I also think they’re used to seeing me walking around, so I don’t think I’m a very big deal.

I’m not a star. I don’t feel I’m so great. So how can I make you feel great just because you’ve got my signature on a piece of paper?

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

That is what fame is, isn’t it? To get the world to fall in love with you.

I think it’s important as an artist to never forget where you’re from.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

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 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.

Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.

Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.

I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.

In the book of Gaga, fame is in your heart, fame is there to comfort you, to bring you self-confidence and worth whenever you need it.

I’d like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.

We can have no ’50-50′ allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.

Generally speaking, men are held in great esteem in all parts of the world, so why shouldn’t women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and commemorated, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?

Your life will be a blessed and balanced experience if you first honor your identity and priority.

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

I don’t want flowers or candy or anything like that. I just want somebody to say, ‚Wow, you’ve done a great job.‘

The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.

I don’t think I could think of a single thing that’s more isolating than being famous.

It was because the chimps are so eye-catching, so like us and teach us so much that my work was recognised worldwide.

Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars.

When you have box-office results, Hollywood treats you different. Hollywood stands up. Once you get to the point where Hollywood sees that you create results, then the demand for you becomes higher.

I’m sure everyone knows now that only a few have performed in Madison Square Garden. That list is so small. Now I’m on that list. I’m a part of a very small group, which is unbelievable. You relish in that moment for a second.

I can simply tell you that since I was a kid, I didn’t like to look like anyone else.

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.

Such as we are made of, such we be.

See, ‚A Time to Kill‘ was the one I got famous off of. Big ka-boom, over one weekend. After that, I did films that I really wanted to do.

I just dress like… I’m an old black man. Sorry! Like I’m an old Jewish black man. I just dress like it’s still the ’50s.

Becoming famous was never what I wanted to do. There’s a lot of things that come with fame – it’s what people in the limelight have to do.

The challenge for me as an actor is if you become a celebrity, you don’t meet strangers anymore. And strangers are where we have our anonymity. And I believe it’s essential for the soul to be anonymous, especially if you’re going to be an actor.

Really, who you are is defined by the people who you know – not even the people that you know, but the people you spend time with and the people that you love and the people that you work with. I guess we show your friends in your profile, but that’s kind of different from the information you put in your profile.

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.

I think who you are in school really sticks with you.

To understand a name you must be acquainted with the particular of which it is a name.

Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.

I saw a picture of myself when I came out of the hospital. I didn’t recognize myself.

I have had fun being who I became, so to speak.

I want to support other women because of the opportunities I’ve had – and I’ve had a lot of opportunities. What I try as a female director is to do the best job I can and, in the meantime, bring attention to as many other female directors and writers as I can.

A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction.

You don’t go to Notre Dame to learn something; you go to Notre Dame to be somebody.

There are a lot of people who don’t know me and what I am all about.

I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.

I wanted to imbue Ziggy with real flesh and blood and muscle, and it was imperative that I find Ziggy and be him.

Having other comedians complimenting my work is the biggest accolade that I can get.

Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.