“It is astonishing how rapidly memories of that kind disappear.”

Reflecting on how quickly achievements can vanish from collective memory · The Autobiography of Lord Alfred Douglas, 1929

• Fame
• Memory
• Time

“I am altogether uncertain, whether to look upon my self as a man building a monument, or burying the dead?”

Wondering whether collected works preserve writing or merely entomb it · Preface to The Works of Alexander Pope, 1717

• Fame
• Mortality
• Writing

“it is with a fine Genius as with a fine fashion, all those are displeas'd at it who are not able to follow it.”

Linking resentment of talent with the inability to imitate it · Preface to The Works of Alexander Pope, 1717

• Creativity
• Envy
• Fame

“from the moment he prints, he must expect to hear no more truth, than if he were a Prince, or a Beauty.”

Warning writers that publication can surround them with flattery · Preface to The Works of Alexander Pope, 1717

• Fame
• Truth
• Writing

“the reputation of a man generally depends upon the first steps he makes in the world, and people will establish their opinion of us, from what we do at that season when we have least judgment to direct us.”

Observing how early mistakes can shape a lasting reputation · Preface to The Works of Alexander Pope, 1717

• Fame
• Judgement
• Youth

“If I survive the war, I have great hopes of writing something that will live. If not, I trust to be remembered in my own land for one or two things which its long sorrow inspired.”

Balances literary ambition with the possibility of an early death · Letter to Katharine Tynan, 6 January 1917

• Fame
• Mortality
• Writing

“If you have a success, you have it for the wrong reasons. If you become popular it is always because of the worst aspects of your work.”

Expressing deep suspicion of popularity as a reliable measure of artistic achievement · Conversation, recalled by Morley Callaghan

• Art
• Criticism
• Fame

“Having books published is very destructive to writing.”

Contrasting the demands and distractions of publication with the private work of creation · Letter to Bernard Berenson, 2 October 1952

• Creativity
• Fame
• Writing

“If it's good enough, it will last as long as there are human beings.”

Expressing faith that genuinely accomplished writing can outlive its author · Conversation, recalled by Malcolm Cowley, Life, 1949

• Eternity
• Fame
• Writing

“The sense that one gets in all that has been written about Emily Dickinson during the year is, not that she is a smaller star in the literary heavens than Whitman, but of a greater distance from the eye.”

Suggesting that neglected genius may be distant from recognition rather than lesser in stature · Introduction, Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1924

• Criticism
• Fame
• Poetry

“It was good for ‘distinguished people’ to be reminded occasionally of how very small consequence they really were, in the mighty life of the World!”

A humorous reminder that fame does not confer ultimate importance · Autobiographical essay, My First Book

• Fame
• Humility
• Humour

“Popularity is the falsest of all tests to apply to the work of any artist or thinker.”

Rejecting public approval as a reliable measure of artistic worth · Essay, The Muses in England, 1892

• Art
• Criticism
• Fame

“Unfortunately, I can’t afford to be a poet only—I wish I could, for poetry alone gives me real happiness, not for any reward it yields in pence or praise.”

Separating the inward value of poetry from money and reputation · Letter to George R. Sims

• Fame
• Happiness
• Poetry

“I am like a sailor who has escaped disaster only because he has never ventured far out to sea.”

Original: Ведь я то же, что иной моряк, с которым оттого только и беды не случалось, что он не хаживал далеко в море. — At a celebration of his long career, Krylov answered praise with striking self-deprecation. · Conversation at his literary jubilee, recorded by P. A. Pletnev, 1838 (Russian)

• Fame
• Humility
• Wit

“I am very much flattered by your commendation of my last letter, for I write only for fame, and without any view to pecuniary emolument.”

A characteristically playful claim of literary ambition · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 16 January 1796

• Fame
• Humour
• Writing

“And will you remember that my only unfulfilled longing is to have the lead in Poetry?”

A candid expression of literary ambition from an editor who was also determined to be recognised as a poet · Letter to Harriet Monroe, 29 May 1924

• Fame
• Longing
• Poetry

“Praise—actual personal praise—oftener frets and embarrasses than it encourages. It is too small when too near.”

Noting the uncomfortable difference between fame and personal praise · Essay, On the Character of Mrs. Hemans's Writings

• Character
• Criticism
• Fame

“Write poetry for its own sake, not in a spirit of emulation, & not with a view to celebrity: the less you aim at that, the more likely you will be to deserve, & finally obtain it.”

Advising artistic practice for its own sake rather than for fame · Letter to Charlotte Brontë, 12 March 1837

• Fame
• Poetry
• Writing

“In these days nothing can be kept from the joint demands of cupidity and curiosity.”

A sharp observation on the forces that turn private lives into public material · Letter to Joseph Cottle, 30 September 1836

• Culture
• Fame
• Society

“Puff me, Coleridge! if you love me, puff me! Puff a couple of hundreds into my pocket!”

A comic plea for publicity from a writer well aware of the economics of publishing · Letter to S. T. Coleridge, 12 February 1808

• Fame
• Humour
• Writing

“It is something to be praised by one’s peers; ordinary praise I regard as little as ordinary abuse.”

Distinguishing informed judgement from indiscriminate praise or criticism · Letter to Grosvenor C. Bedford, 26 April 1808

• Character
• Criticism
• Fame

“Literary fame is the only fame of which a wise man ought to be ambitious, because it is the only lasting and living fame.”

Presenting literature as a form of reputation capable of surviving its age · Letter to Walter Savage Landor, 2 May 1808

• Fame
• Literature
• Time

“So many poets have announced their arrival, and not arrived!”

A concise joke about poetic ambition and the uncertainty of literary reputation · Essay, Robert Herrick, in Ponkapog Papers (1903)

• Fame
• Humour
• Poetry

“It has always been an incredulous world in this matter.”

Observing the difficulty poets face in persuading contemporaries that their work will endure · Essay, Robert Herrick, in Ponkapog Papers (1903)

• Criticism
• Fame
• Poetry