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

Happy is the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell!

I am sick and tired of publicity. I want no more of it. It puts me in a bad light. I just want to be forgotten.

A woman’s greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill.

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

When I do a show, the whole show revolves around me, and if I don’t show up, they can just forget it.

They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.

Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury—to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.

I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.

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

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

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