What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

Apart from life, a strong constitution, and an abiding connection to the Thembu royal house, the only thing my father bestowed upon me at birth was a name, Rolihlahla.

The nice thing is that when people come up to me, it’s the football they remember, not all the other rubbish.

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

It feels good to have your work respected again.

Undeserved praise causes more pangs of conscience later than undeserved blame, but probably only for this reason, that our power of judgment are more completely exposed by being over praised than by being unjustly underestimated.

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.

People want to act like they know celebrities. They want to see pictures. They want to know where you’re going. They want to hear you talk about your family.

It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.

Years ago, when I first started being a big star, I had fans that were fanatical. It was when ‚Jolene‘ was a big hit.

Becoming a ‚Sir‘ is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it.

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.

God will not look you over for medals degrees or diplomas, but for scars.

I don’t call up the press and say, ‚Look at me!‘

Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

I don’t really focus on these things – on what tags are given to me or what people think of me off the field – stuff like that. My main focus is always to do well on the field for the Indian cricket team. When people say good things about me off the field, I am more than happy to accept them.

I came to California and got signed at a young age. And it’s not like you see in the movies, where you start rubbing shoulders with Timbaland and Pharrell, and you become a giant pop star.

The colonel replied that he didn’t care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.

People don’t realize that we, we meaning people in show business, have the same problems as everyone else. Money doesn’t change that. Fame doesn’t change that. Sometimes that brings on more problems. You know, it’s just a different kind of problems.

If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?

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!

In the United States, I am a great success, but I am not a celebrity.

Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.

I’m glad a genre writer has got a knighthood, but stunned that it was me.

How many emperors and how many princes have lived and died and no record of them remains, and they only sought to gain dominions and riches in order that their fame might be ever-lasting.

I knew no one who’d ever been in the public eye.

The Internet made fame wack and anonymity cool.

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.

That’s something that is almost accidental at the beginning of a career, but the more you write, the more trained you are to recognize the little signals.

People in Ethiopia, the Sudan, etc., don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF, their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump ‚UNICEF.‘

When art dresses in worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.

People are always coming up to me and saying, ‚I heard your dad’s speech, and it’s really great.‘ And they’ll mention some place I didn’t even know my dad was going to.

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

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

Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.

It confuses me and disappoints me when somebody says, ‚What does he do? What does he do?‘ My records are some of the biggest anthems ever. What do you think, they magically just appear? Obama walked out to my record.

Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.

Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.

I’m not in it for fame. I’ve been famous in the streets already.

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.

If anyone remembers me, it’s about my hard work.

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

I wanna thank MTV and the VMAs for choosing me to be a part of the show because, on this show, if you not an icon or upcomin‘ icon, you’re not on the show, you know?

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.

Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.

I think sometimes celebrities get so big, they’re not reachable.

Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off.

Joanne‘ is a progression for me. It was about going into the studio and forgetting that I was famous.

Overnight stardom can be harmful to your mental health. Yeah. It has ruined a lot of people.

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.

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.

I meet young people who know me and are familiar with my stuff. They know the package. They might have cherry-picked five or six key tunes. That’s how it seems to work. I sometimes wonder if they realise they are not getting the whole context.

If you’re always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden.

There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous.

I’m the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren’t no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn’t know about them.

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

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

I’ve watched a lot of people who became famous who completely change and I think it’s because they tend to believe all the hype that’s out there. I don’t think there’s that much hype about 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.

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