#success
"It was the normal working of the antisuccess mechanism. In our overcrowded modern world a hit record, a best-selling book, a successful film, can reach more people in a week than Shakespeare or Beethoven reached in a whole lifetime. And so fame has become the most romantic, the most desirable of all commodities, the dream for which a modern Faust might sell his soul to the Devil. Once attained, fame is never as easy to hold on to as some people believe. The people who achieve fame by some accident of fashion are usually forgotten within a week; the ones who remain on top have to work to stay there. But few people understand this. The result is that anyone who achieves sudden notoriety arouses envy and hostility. The greater the success, the greater the reaction."
React to this quote
More by Colin Wilson
See allResonant Thoughts
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Legalize It All: How to win the war on drugs, Harper's Magazine, April 2016"
— John Ehrlichman"When the wayfarer whistles in the dark, he may be disavowing his timidity, but he does not see any more cle…"
— Sigmund Freud"How can someone say they’re successful if they’re not happy doing their work?"
— Nicholas Lore"Forward, for ever forward! at the end of the tunnel is the light … at the end of the flight is the victory."
— Mirra Alfassa"it's the problem with Italian aeroplanes too much hair on the wings"
— Vivian Stanshall"To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success."
— Henry J. Heinz