“Fame itself … doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant.”
– David Bowie

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
– Henry David Thoreau

“I’m shy, paranoid, whatever word you want to use. I hate fame. I’ve done everything I can to avoid it.”
Johnny Depp

“If I became a philosopher, if I have so keenly sought this fame for which I’m still waiting, it’s all been to seduce women basically.”
– Jean-Paul Sartre

“There’s no difference between fame and infamy now. There’s a new school of professional famous people that don’t do anything. They don’t create anything.”
– Ricky Gervais

“Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.”
– Marilyn Monroe

“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Fame hit me like a ton of bricks.”
– Eminem

“If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.”
– Oprah Winfrey

“I think I understand what military fame is – to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.”
– William Tecumseh Sherman

“Fame was thrilling only until it became gruelling. Money was fun only until you ran out of things to buy.”
– Gloria Swanson

“What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.”
– Lord Byron

“A life without fame can be a good life, but fame without a life is no life at all.”
– Clive James

“Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, and now that, and changes name as it changes direction.”
– Dante Alighieri

Thoughts on fame

Nigel Slater’s life at Street

TOAST, the comedy drama play adapted from chef and cookery writer Nigel Slater’s autobiographical memoir, comes to the stage of Strode Theatre in Street from 8th to 11th November.

Directed by Jane Sayer, it features well-known Street Theatre actors Alice Cameron, Angie Lars, Dan Simmons, Hilary Quinlan and Tyler Wilson bringing to life the many people in Slater’s early life.

His book, first published 20 years ago, won the British Book Awards Biography of the Year award, and tells the story of Nigel Slater’s childhood, vividly recreating the tastes and smells he shares with his mother and culminating in his escape to London.

From making the perfect sherry trifle, through the playground politics of sweets, the rigid rules of restaurant dining and a domestic war over cakes, this play is treat for all the senses, with lots of fun, movement and cooking business (including, of course, burned toast) and all set to a fabulous 60s and 70s soundtrack.

Performances start at Street nightly at 7.30pm.