“Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.”
Fame looks different from the inside than the outside. These quotes come from and about well-known figures, exploring celebrity, recognition, legacy, and the question of whether being remembered is really all it is cracked up to be.
“But I didn't ask to have somebody nose around in my private life. I didn't even ask to be famous. All I asked was to be able to earn a living making people laugh.”
“Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.”
“Yeah, I love being famous. It's almost like being white, y'know?”
“Sometimes people offer you plays, they offer you parts, but they only offer it because I'm famous.”
“I was obsessed with being rich and famous.”
“I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities, or for those who fawn over you just because you are famous.”
“Being famous hasn't changed my perception of myself - I've just grown up.”
“I'd love to live in Ireland but I'd like to live as me, not what someone thinks I am. People don't understand - I lived there before I was famous.”
“Some of the things I've seen a lot of my female-actress friends who are relatively famous receive - I've seen some hideous things. Like some really, really bad things... like, the FBI should be contacted immediately.”
“Any idiot can get laid when they're famous. That's easy. It's getting laid when you're not famous that takes some talent.”
“Hitler was so modern, in that he was obsessed with being famous. He was caught up with this rush to be have achieved greatness before turning 30.”
“Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneath a great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearly marked John Grisham, yet no one recognises me. I often say I'm a famous author in a country where no one reads.”
“What is a movie star? It is an illusion. It was everything I ever wanted to be, but it became a kind of shell, non? It was what made me famous and got me women. But it wasn't real.”
“I just want to make music, I don't want people to talk about me. All I've ever wanted to do was sing. I don't want to be a celebrity. I don't want to be in people's faces, you know, constantly on covers of magazine that I haven't even known I'm on.”
“My name's Jennifer Ellison and one day I'm going to be famous!”
“I've had to deal, a lot, with my own sense of intimidation at meeting famous people - especially actors, but really any famous people.”