And what will history say of me a thousand years hence?

How sweet it is to have people point and say, “There he is.”

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

All people have the common desire to be elevated in honor, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.

I won’t be happy till I’m as famous as God.

Most authors seek fame, but I seek for justice—a holier impulse than ever entered into the ambitious struggles of the votaries of that fickle, flirting goddess.

Those who know the joys and miseries of celebrities when they have passed the age of forty know how to defend themselves.

I’m afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.

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

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

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

Men are generally more pleased with a widespread than with a great reputation.

We all have a contract with the public—in us they see themselves, or what they would like to be.