Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Fame favors the lightweight and loud while drowning out the substantial.
- In plain terms
- Fame supports flashy people but ignores serious ones.
- What can you take from it?
- Fame does not reward substance fairly.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does fame match reality in your field?
- How do you measure true worth?
Another view
It generalizes all fame without acknowledging cases where it rewards merit.
More from Francis Bacon
A wise man will make more opportunities, than he finds.
Permalink to quote #137 Glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves of their own vaunts.
Permalink to quote #139 Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
Permalink to quote #136
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