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.]

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it.

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it.

Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.

Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.

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 aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it.

The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it.

In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names.

In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names.

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.

Fame - a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not to be depended on.

Fame - a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not to be depended on.

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to read more

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognised.