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Fame doesn’t fulfil you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.
—Marilyn MonroeThe fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.
—Barack ObamaIf you wanna be famous, then it’s okay if the music is fake, because fame isn’t real.
—Josh Homme The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.
—JK RowlingWhat is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.
—Lord ByronIf one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?
—ChanakyaThe highest form of vanity is love of fame.
—George SantayanaThe bigger that your career gets, the smaller your life gets.
—AdeleYou’re either humble or you’re not. If you were a jerk before the fame, you just become a jerk with a bigger spotlight. Whoever you are really comes through.
—Oprah WinfreyFame itself... doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant.
—David BowieFame is as much about luck as it is about talent, perhaps more.
—Kirk DouglasStardom isn’t a profession; it’s an accident.
—Lauren BacallFame is like a big piece of meringue—it’s beautiful, and you keep eating it, but it doesn’t really fill you up.
—Pierce BrosnanYou can’t reverse fame. You can lose all the money, but you’ll never lose people knowing you.
—J ColeFame is very agreeable. But the bad thing is it goes on 24 hours a day.
—Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(This story appears in the 03 January, 2020 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)