Fame is a Foolish Pursuit

A lot of people want to be famous. It's a very, very foolish yearning on the part of people. When I have asked kids, why do you want to be famous? I mean, really, kids like elementary school age, because a lot of them want to be famous. And I will then ask the killer question: famous for what? And they say, for anything. I say, like most hamburgers eaten? Yep, most hamburgers eaten. Let me tell you, because I have a certain degree of fame, that it is extremely foolish an ambition. I'll give you a few reasons. First of all, it is not in and of itself at all fulfilling. It doesn't really mean anything. I have a great phrase, and that is, the significant are rarely famous and the famous are rarely significant. We all know names of people who are quote famous for being famous. What did they actually do? They got famous. And they're of course big on social media and so on. There's another problem with fame, and that is it's only available to a very tiny fraction of humanity. By definition, not everyone can be famous. By definition, right? It's restricted to a certain tiny number. So most people will be chasing the end of a rainbow. It is not available. So it's sort of a waste of time to chase something that is generally unavailable. But even if it's available, These people are not happier for being famous. They might seem it, but there is a big problem. There are a number of big problems. One of them is in almost every case, fame ends pretty rapidly. It's sort of like a football player's career. It's a limited period of time and then it's over. And it's certainly over even in the most famous cases when you die. Now that you may say, well, I don't care, I'm dead. That's, which is a fair answer, to be honest. But nevertheless, please know that I get a big kick out of asking younger people 5 names that were household names, that were easily as famous as Britney Spears is today, famous then, and they've never heard of any of them. So it's certainly in almost no instances, unless you're Napoleon or Churchill, does your name go on for any period of time after you die. And for most people, it is gone while they're still living. It's empty. Fame is empty. It's not bad, it's just empty. I can speak for myself. Fame for me is completely a means. It has never been an end. The more people who know me, the more people know my work. If you know me and don't know my work, it's of no consequence to me. I would like you to read my books. I would like you to hear what I have to say, because I think I could touch your life for the good. That's what I'm most interested in. You'll get a lot more happiness from meaning than from fame, and fame is not meaningful. That's my point.