“There's not a thing on earth that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.”

— John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

Did e'er this Saucy World.
Other

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There's not a thing on earth that I can name, So foolish, and so false, as common fame." by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester?

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester photo

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 34

English poet, and peer of the realm 1647–1680

Related quotes

“Fame, moreover inspires backbiting. It does no good whatsoever to have one's name survive. A craving after fame is next foolish.”

Yoshida Kenkō (1283–1350) japanese writer

38
Essays in Idleness (1967 Columbia University Press, Trns: Donald Keene)
Context: One would like to leave behind a glorious reputation for surpassing wisdom and character, but careful reflection will show that what we mean by love of a glorious reputation is delight in the approbation of others. Neither those who praise nor those who abuse last for long, and the people who have heard their reports are like likely to depart the world as quickly. Before whom then should we feel ashamed? By whom should we wish to be appreciated? Fame, moreover inspires backbiting. It does no good whatsoever to have one's name survive. A craving after fame is next foolish.

“Just as language has no longer anything in common with the thing it names, so the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connexion with the earth; they hang, as it were, in the air, hover in all directions, and find no place where they can settle.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

Worpswede (1903)

“Names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit.”

Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses (1988)

“Thou treacherous, base deserter of my flame,
False to my passion, fatal to my fame,
Through what mistaken magic dost thou prove
So true to lewdness, so untrue to love?”

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) English poet, and peer of the realm

The Imperfect Enjoyment.
Other

“As the owners of heaven forbade chocolate to mortals, so the owners of earth forbade it to commoners.”

Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015) Uruguayan writer

As quoted in Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone (2009), p. 7

“I am looking for such a place in order to settle there, perhaps only till things improve, perhaps forever. I am not so foolish, however, as to imagine that I can rely on maps and roads to guide me.”

J.M. Coetzee book Life & Times of Michael K

Life & Times of Michael K (1983)
Context: Though this is a large country, so large that you would think there would be space for everyone, what I have learned from life tells me that it is hard to keep out of the camps. Yet I am convinced there are areas that lie between the camps and belong to no camp, not even to the catchment areas of the camps — certain mountaintops, for example, certain islands in the middle of swamps, certain arid strips where human beings may not find it worth their while to live. I am looking for such a place in order to settle there, perhaps only till things improve, perhaps forever. I am not so foolish, however, as to imagine that I can rely on maps and roads to guide me. Therefore I have chosen you to show me the way.

“And I think that my whole life, looking back at it, I was so rooted in worldly things, in worldly values, fame, fashion and fortune and all the things that are just transient.”

Jani Allan (1952) South African columnist and broadcaster

Speaking in 1995 in an SABC interview about a change of philosophy following her libel case against Channel 4. http://70.84.171.10/~etools/newsbrief/1995/news0103
Other

“The rust will find the sword of fame,
The dust will hide the crown;
Ay, none shall nail so high his name
Time will not tear it down.”

John Vance Cheney (1848–1922) American writer

The Happiest Heart

“I could have been more famous if I did all the glitzy things, but celebrity always seemed so unnecessary … Fame and success are very different things, anyway.”

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

The Times Magazine interview (2005)
Context: I could have been more famous if I did all the glitzy things, but celebrity always seemed so unnecessary... Fame and success are very different things, anyway. The music sold itself before anybody knew who I was, so I felt I had a choice. I told the record company I didn't feel the need to be out there at red-carpet events. I wanted a career. But I wanted to keep myself intact as a person.

“The perfect man … is in a well-lit area watching the foolish antics of people stumbling around in the dark. He can demolish with a laugh the false standards and judgments which others apply to people and things.”

Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794) French writer

Reflections

“There's not a thing on earth that I can name,So foolish, and so false, as common fame.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 34

Related quotes

Related topics

“There's not a thing on earth that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.”