“When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer.”

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XXI Letters. Personal Records. Dated Notes.

Jane to Mrs. Reed (Ch. 4)
Jane Eyre (1847)

Loves Me Like a Rock
Song lyrics, There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)

Joking on joining the Army at age 15.
CNN March 8, 2008.

I
Variant translation: I am a ridiculous man. They call me a madman now. That would be a distinct rise in my social position were it not that they still regard me as being as ridiculous as ever. But that does not make me angry any more. They are all dear to me now even while they laugh at me — yes, even then they are for some reason particularly dear to me. I shouldn't have minded laughing with them — not at myself, of course, but because I love them — had I not felt so sad as I looked at them. I feel sad because they do not know the truth, whereas I know it. Oh, how hard it is to be the only man to know the truth! But they won't understand that. No, they will not understand.
As translated by David Magarshack
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877)
Context: I am a ridiculous person. Now they call me a madman. That would be a promotion if it were not that I remain as ridiculous in their eyes as before. But now I do not resent it, they are all dear to me now, even when they laugh at me — and, indeed, it is just then that they are particularly dear to me. I could join in their laughter — not exactly at myself, but through affection for them, if I did not feel so sad as I look at them. Sad because they do not know the truth and I do know it. Oh, how hard it is to be the only one who knows the truth! But they won't understand that. No, they won't understand it.

And if David asks why I decline, I explain that it is because I have no desire to meet the woman.
"Come this time, father," he urged lately, "for it is her birthday, and she is twenty-six," which is so great an age to David, that I think he fears she cannot last much longer.
Source: The Little White Bird (1902), Ch. 1

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian archbishop, as quoted in Peace Behind Bars : A Peacemaking Priest's Journal from Jail (1995) by John Dear, p. 65; this is a translation of "Quando dou comida aos pobres chamam-me de santo. Quando pergunto por que eles são pobres chamam-me de comunista."
Variant translations:
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why are they poor, they call me a Communist.
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.
Misattributed

As quoted in "Roberto Clemente: Man of Paradox" by Arnold Hano, in Sport (May 1965)
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1965</big>