“ Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable. ”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). copy citation
| Author | Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. |
|---|---|
| Source | The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
| Topic | fame common |
| Date | 1858 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/751/751-h/751-h.htm |
Context
“I don't wish to be understood as saying too much, for I think, without committing myself to any opinion on my present state, that I was not a Solomon at that stage of development.
You long to «leap at a single bound into celebrity.» Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable. Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else,—very rarely to those who say to themselves, «Go to, now, let us be a celebrated individual!» The struggle for fame, as such, commonly ends in notoriety;—that ladder is easy to climb, but it leads to the pillory which is crowded with fools who could not hold their tongues and rogues who could not hide their tricks.” source
You long to «leap at a single bound into celebrity.» Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable. Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else,—very rarely to those who say to themselves, «Go to, now, let us be a celebrated individual!» The struggle for fame, as such, commonly ends in notoriety;—that ladder is easy to climb, but it leads to the pillory which is crowded with fools who could not hold their tongues and rogues who could not hide their tricks.” source
Meaning and analysis
