Not fame, but that which deserves to be famous, is what a man should hold in esteem…. Light is not visible unless it meets with something to reflect it; and talent is sure of itself only when its fame is noised abroad. But fame is not a certain symptom of merit; because you can have the one without the other; or, as Lessing nicely puts it, Some people obtain fame, and others deserve it. Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life (1851)
