483 Reputation Quotes

Our father the novelist; my husband the poet. He belongs to the ages - just don't catch him at breakfast. Artists, celebrated for their humanity, they turn out to be scarcely human at all.

Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.

When young Mark Robarts was leaving college, his father might well declare that all men began to say all good things to him, and to extol his fortune in that he had a son blessed with so excellent a disposition.

If I give you a good wine, you will see how it tastes and after you ask where it comes from.

It is as great a spite to be praised in the wrong place, and by a wrong person, as can be done to a noble nature.

I think the original, 'They're the next Jane's Addiction' things that people said about us in the beginning have been pretty much wiped out.

I'm not afraid of Spassky. The world knows I'm the best. You don't need a match to prove it.

People have been playing against me below their strength for fifteen years.

Genius. It's a word. What does it really mean? If I win I'm a genius. If I don't, I'm not.

I think I'm still clean living. That's - I mean I don't go home and have orgies or anything like that. I'm still the same person I've always been.

I have the consolation of leaving your kingdom in the highest degree of glory and of reputation.

Keep up appearances whatever you do.

Once a gentleman, and always a gentleman.

I think the word of the United States has been as good as gold in its international dealings and its agreements.

It is with literature as with law or empire - an established name is an estate in tenure, or a throne in possession.

Never explain - your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

Do not adjust your sandals while passing through a melon-field, nor yet arrange your hat beneath an orange-tree.

A beaten general is disgraced forever.

The highest form of vanity is love of fame.

Nothing would have been changed for the German people, but my name would have gone down in history as that of the greatest traitor.

The creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic.

Of course in Miami, not denouncing Fidel Castro at every turn is almost as bad as saying Gloria Estefan can't sing.

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

When I see an Alfa Romeo go by, I tip my hat.

My character and good name are in my own keeping. Life with disgrace is dreadful. A glorious death is to be envied.

Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these. Of course, I am.

Charity may cover a multitude of sins, but success transmutes them into virtues.

I've been too many places. I'm like the bad penny.

Strangers who have seen Shaw face to face are wont to report their surprise at his gentleness and consideration, his willingness to listen and his complete lack of pose.

If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.

The public seldom forgive twice.

Biography is one of the new terrors of death.

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.... It is thus with most of us: we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.

But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the umost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media.

He knew who I was, at that time, because I had a reputation as a writer. I knew he was part of the Bush dynasty. But he was nothing, he offered nothing, and he promised nothing. He had no humour. He was insignificant in every way and consequently I didn't pay much attention to him. But when he passed out in my bathtub, then I noticed him. I'd been in another room, talking to the bright people. I had to have him taken away.

The worst of failure in this kind is that it spoils the market for more competent performers.

And I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak.

Biographies are but clothes and buttons of the man - the biography of the man himself cannot be written.

The sin forgiven by Christ in Heaven By man is cursed alway.

There is nothing so stupid or dangerous or painful that people wont eagerly do it, if by doing it they will make others believe that they are better or stronger or more honorable. I've seen people poison themselves, destroy their children, abandon their mates, cut themselves off from the world, all so that others would think that they were a better sort of person.

Every fanatic or enemy of virtue is not at liberty to misrepresent the greatest geniuses and most heroic defenders of all that is valuable in this mortal world. History, to gain any credit, must contain some truth, and that truth shall thus be made a sufficient indication of prejudice and deceit. With respect to the miracles which these biographers have related, I have already declined to enter into any discussion on their nature or their existence. The supposition of their falsehood or their truth would modify in no degree the hues of the picture which is attempted to be delineated.

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read.

It's better to be quotable than to be honest.

I note the derogatory rumors concerning my use of alcoholic stimulants and lavish living. It is the penalty of greatness.

If a man's character is to be abused, say what you will, there's nobody like a relation to do the business.

Satriani's Law: There's at least a 30% chance that someone will print the name Satriani incorrectly

Now, as I understand it, the bards were feared. They were respected, but more than that they were feared. If you were just some magician, if you'd pissed off some witch, then what's she gonna do, she's gonna put a curse on you, and what's gonna happen? Your hens are gonna lay funny, your milk's gonna go sour, maybe one of your kids is gonna get a hare-lip or something like that - no big deal. You piss off a bard, and forget about putting a curse on you, he might put a satire on you. And if he was a skilful bard, he puts a satire on you, it destroys you in the eyes of your community, it shows you up as ridiculous, lame, pathetic, worthless, in the eyes of your community, in the eyes of your family, in the eyes of your children, in the eyes of yourself, and if it's a particularly good bard, and he's written a particularly good satire, then three hundred years after you're dead, people are still gonna be laughing, at what a twat you were.

'Tis very strange Men should be so fond of being thought wickeder than they are.

A good name is like a precious ointment; it filleth all around about, and will not easily away; for the odors of ointments are more durable than those of flowers.

Glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves of their own vaunts.

Who calls a lawyer rogue, may find, too late Upon one of these depends his whole estate.

Gossip is mischievous, light and easy to raise, but grievous to bear and hard to get rid of. No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: it too is a kind of divinity.

Of which all Europe rings from side to side.

The day has clearly gone forever of societies small enough for their members to have personal acquaintance with one another, and to find their station through the appraisal of those who have first hand knowledge of them. Publicity is an evil substitute and the art of publicity is a black art; but it has come to stay, every year adds to its potency and to the finality of its judgments. The hand that rules the press, the radio, the screen and the far-spread magazine, rules the country whether we like it or not, we must learn to accept it.

If there's a hole in a' your coats, I rede you tent it; A chield's aman you takin' notes, And faith he'll prent it.

I am like a Rolls Royce which can run without an engine, just on reputation.

'Fame is only good for one thing-they will cash your check in a small town.'

You can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time. ** Usually attributed to Abraham Lincoln or P. T. Barnum

Asking a man if he could be trusted was like asking an unwed girl if she was a virgin. The question mattered, but the asking of it was a gross insult

What people think about you is not supposed to matter much, so long as you yourself know where the truth lies; but I have found out, as have others who move in and out of newspaper headlines, that on occasion it can matter a good deal. For once you enter the worl

Perhaps a man's character is like a tree, and his reputation like its character: the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.

That chastity of honour which felt a stain like a wound.

I don't care what they say about me, just make sure they spell my name right!

Je ne dois qu'a moi seul toute ma renommee.

The two biggest myths about me are that I'm an intellectual, because I wear these glasses, and that I'm an artist because my films lose money. Those two myths have been prevalent for many years.

Now it so happens in the world that opposed to characters of such persons as he there are characters like mine, for instance. I care as little for the world's opinion as that man cared for what was right. To appear right was enough for him; what I think the most important is not to deceive or desert a woman.

Much Ado About Nothing

It is like the thirteenth stroke of a crazy clock, which not only is itself discredited but casts a shade of doubt over all previous assertions.

Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.

This laurel greener from the brows Of him that uttered nothing base.

'Do men love thee? Art thou so bound To men, that how thy name may sound Will vex thee lying underground? 'The memory of the wither'd leaf In endless time is scarce more brief Than of the garner'd Autumn-sheaf.

Everybody always knows where they stand with you, dont they?

I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing 'Til they got a hold of me. I opened doors for little old ladies, I helped the blind to see. I got no friends 'cause they read the papers. They can't be seen with me and I'm gettin' real shot down And I'm feeling mean. No more Mister Nice Guy, No more Mister Clean, No more Mister Nice Guy, They say he's sick, he's obscene.

It was admitted by all her friends, and also by her enemies- who were in truth the more numerous and active body of the two- that Lizzie Greystock had done very well with herself.

The greatest playwright of the 20th century.

It's a real waste. He still had a lot of racing and wins left in him. He was a good person. I can tell you that firsthand. Last year (1993), when I had my problems, he was one of the main people there supporting me. He was probabily the greatest driver of all time. This was not a driver error. There was no weakness in his driving.

Some twenty years ago I stopped talking about the Babe for the simple reason that I realized that those who had never seen him didn't believe me.

La galanteria y la honra tienen esta ventaja, que se quedan: aquella en quien la usa, esta en quien la haze.

La quexa siempre trae descredito. Mas sirve de exemplar de atrevimiento a la passion que de consuelo a la compassion. Abre el passo a quien la oye para lo mismo, y es la noticia del agravio del primero disculpa del segundo. Dan pie algunos con sus quexas de las ofensiones passadas a las venideras.

'It's all smokes and daggers'( commenting on the media's apparent conspiracy to discredit him)

Spinoza (1634-77) is the noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers. Intellectually, some have surpassed him, but ethically he is supreme. As a natural consequence, he was considered, during his lifetime and for a century after his death, a man of appalling wickedness.

They want to utterly destroy my reputation for all time. Jews are vicious rats.

They like to write only bad things about me.

I wouldn't have put a dime on anyone to beat Bruce Lee in a real confrontation. Bruce Lee was the best street fighter I ever saw, even to this very day, and not just pound for pound - but against anyone in a real fight.

The label of liberalism is hardly a sentence to public igominy: otherwise Bruce Springsteen would still be rehabilitating used Cadillacs in Asbury Park and Jane Fonda, for all we know, would be just another overweight housewife.

There are plenty of Republican senators now who know what happened to Trent Lott - how can they not? They have street smarts. They're aware that he was nailed because people happened to record something that was at the practical funeral of a centenarian.

Reputation: 'Unfortunately, your reputation often rests not on your ability to do what you say, but rather on your ability to do what people expect.'

Anger: 'Keep your anger in check. Anger is like a fire's ember; the hotter it burns the quicker it consumes itself and those things around it. Unchecked, anger often turns into an explosion of cruelty that can forever destroy a reputation and wound the tenderness of those whom we care about.'

Prudence: 'Speak rarely, but then speak carefully. Speak with great calculation and discretion before your rivals and with great nobility of manner before friends. The opportunity to make your thoughts known arise with every social gathering, but the ability to conceal them once liberated never comes.'

I just want that one day, when I retire, that people still remember me like they remember Buster. I really want someone to respect me the way they respect Buster.

'They called her the diva.' (Matt Cassella, about Christina's mouseketers mates)