Renown Quotes

• A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.

  James Madison

  Eye, Names, Heaven

  James Madison (1962). “Papers”

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• I too shall lie in the dust when I am dead, but now let me win noble renown.

  Homer

  Lying, Winning, Dust

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• If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own -- the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple -- a few plain words -- My Heart Laid Bare. But -- this little book must be true to its title.

  Edgar Allan Poe

  Honesty, Lying, Book

  Edgar Allan Poe (2006). “The Portable Edgar Allan Poe”, p.601, Penguin

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• The renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

  Sallust

  Excellence, Fleeting, Riches

  Sallust (1921). “Sallust”

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• It is not possible to be regarded with tenderness, except by a few. That merit which gives greatness and renown diffuses its influence to a wide compass, but acts weakly on every single breast; it is placed at a distance from common spectators, and shines like one of the remote stars, of which the light reaches us, but not the heat.

  Samuel Johnson

  Stars, Distance, Greatness

  Samuel Johnson, Peter Martin (2009). “Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings”, p.217, Harvard University Press

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• The practice of perseverance is the discipline of the noblest virtues. To run well, we must run to the end. It is not the fighting but the' conquering that gives a hero his title to renown.

  Elias Lyman Magoon

  Running, Perseverance, Hero

  Elias Lyman Magoon (1849). “Proverbs for the people: or, Illustrations of practical godliness drawn from the Book of wisdom”, p.188

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• Renown? I've already got more of it than those I respect, and will never have as much as those for whom I feel contempt.

  Jean Rostand

  Respect, Fame, Contempt

  Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

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• All's well that ends well; still the fine's the crown. Whate'er the course, the end is the renown.

  William Shakespeare

  Crowns, Ends, Fine

  William Shakespeare, Mr. Theobald (Lewis), Alexander Pope, Richard Farmer, Samuel Johnson (1821). “The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis. Rape of Lucrece. Sonnets. Lover's complaint. Passionate pilgrim. Memoirs of Lord Southampton”, p.159

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• The greatest works of admiration,
  And all the fair examples of renown.
  Out of distress and misery are grown.

  Samuel Daniel

  Fear, Example, Misery

  Samuel Daniel (1718). “The Poetical Works of Mr. Samuel Daniel ...: To which is Prefix'd, Memoirs of His Life and Writings ...”, p.362

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• Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote, And think they grow immortal as they quote.

  Edward Young

  Learning, Thinking, Training

  Edward Young (1799). “The poetical works of ... E. Young. With the life of the author. Cooke's ed”, p.37

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• Had I but died an hour before this chance,
  I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant,
  There's nothing serious in mortality:
  All is but toys; renown, and grace is dead;
  The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
  Is left this vault to brag of.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Blessed, Wine

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [98]

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• Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land.

  Walter Scott

  Patriotic, Country Love, Men

  The Lay of the Last Minstrel canto 6, st. 1 (1805)

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• To set the cause above renown, To love the game beyond the prize, To honor, while you strike him down, The foe that comes with fearless eyes To count the life of battle good and dear the land that gave you birth, And dearer yet the brotherhood...

  Henry Newbolt

  Eye, Land, Games

  Sir Henry Newbolt, “Clifton Chapel”

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• Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
  The wretch, concentred all in self,
  Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
  And, doubly dying, shall go down
  To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
  Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

  Walter Scott

  Groundhog Day, Self, Dust

  The Lay of the Last Minstrel canto 6, st. 1 (1805)

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• Short is my date, but deathless my renown.

  Homer

  Fame, Deathless

  Homer (1769). “The Iliad of Homer”, p.329

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• The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue. Therefore, if you want to be rich, beloved, love true riches. If you aspire to the heights of real honor, strive to reach the kingdom of Heaven. If you value rank and renown, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the Angels.

  Pope Gregory I

  Real, Angel, Heaven

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• There are believers who by God's grace, have climbed the mountains of full assurance and near communion, their place is with the eagle in his eyrie, high aloft; they are like the strong mountaineer, who has trodden the virgin snow, who has breathed the fresh, free air of the Alpine regions, and therefore his sinews are braced, and his limbs are vigorous; these are they who do great exploits, being mighty men, men of renown.

  Charles Spurgeon

  Strong, Men, Air

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, (p. 18), 1895.

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• He who was Shri Rama, whose stream of love flowed with resistless might even to the Chandala (the outcaste); Oh, who ever was engaged in doing good to the world though superhuman by nature, whose renown there is none to equal in the three worlds, Sita's beloved, whose body of Knowledge Supreme was covered by devotion sweet in the form of Sita. (part of A Hymn To Shri Ramakrishna)

  Swami Vivekananda

  Sweet, Hymns, Three

  Swami Vivekananda (1964). “Complete Works”

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• Renown awaits the commander who first restores artillery to its prime importance on the battlefield.

  Winston Churchill

  Military, Firsts, Prime

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• Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, As home his footsteps he hath turn'd From wandering on a foreign strand! If such there breathe, go mark him well; For him no Minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

  Walter Scott

  Home, Heart, Men

  Sir Walter Scott (1873). “Poetical Works”, p.42

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• And no renown can render you well-known:
  For if you think that fame can lengthen life
  By mortal famousness immortalized,
  The day will come that takes your fame as well,
  And there a second death for you awaits.

  Boethius

  Thinking, Fame, Well Known

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• All your renown is like the summer flower that blooms and dies; because the sunny glow which brings it forth, soon slays with parching power.

  Dante Alighieri

  Summer, Flower, September

  Dante Alighieri, Claudia Hamilton Ramsay (1862). “Dante's Divina Commedia Translated Into English, in the Metre and Triple Rhyme of the Original with Notes by Ramsay: Purgatorio”, p.77

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• Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the sombre renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings.

  Don DeLillo

  Kings, Mean, Excess

  Don DeLillo (2011). “Great Jones Street”, p.4, Pan Macmillan

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• Whatever man loves, that is his god. For he carries it in his heart; he goes about with it night and day; he sleeps and wakes with it, be it what it may - wealth or self, pleasure or renown.

  Martin Luther

  Heart, Sleep, Night

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• So if you care to find me/ Look to the western sky/ As someone told me lately/ Everyone deserves the chance to fly!/ And if I'm flying solo/ At least I'm flying free/ Tell those who'd ground me/ Take a message back from me/ Tell them how I am defying gravity!/ I'm flying high defying gravity/ And soon I'll match them in renown./ And nobody in all of Oz/ No Wizard that there is or was/ Is ever gonna bring me down!/

  Stephen Schwartz

  Flying High, Sky, Messages

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