The best-concerted schemes men lay for fame,
Die fast away: only themselves die faster.
The far-fam'd sculptor, read more

The best-concerted schemes men lay for fame,
Die fast away: only themselves die faster.
The far-fam'd sculptor, and the laurell'd bard,
Those bold insurancers of deathless fame,
Supply their little feeble aids in vain.

Men the most infamous are fond of fame,
And those who fear not guilt, yet start at shame.

Men the most infamous are fond of fame,
And those who fear not guilt, yet start at shame.

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty read more

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty pride to the great names of antiquity.

It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a read more

It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a few people like that.

Fame is a fickle food Upon a shifting plate.

Fame is a fickle food Upon a shifting plate.

Scarcely two hundred years back can Fame recollect articulately
at all; and there she but maunders and mumbles.

Scarcely two hundred years back can Fame recollect articulately
at all; and there she but maunders and mumbles.

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.

The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.

The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.

O Fame!--if I e'er took delight in thy praises,
'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases,
read more

O Fame!--if I e'er took delight in thy praises,
'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases,
Than to see the bright eyes of the dear one discover
She thought that I was not unworthy to love her.