Category Archives: Fame

Oct 08 0 comments
celebrity, Fame, James Howell, reputation

>Who Has Once The Fame

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Day #5 of ‘Fame Week’ at The Napkin Dad Daily
What are you famous for?  Fame at the average person’s level is fame among family, friends, co-workers.  If those who know you were asked ‘what is ‘your name here’ famous for?’ What do you think they would say? At work, are you famous for your patience? Are you well-known for your sales ability?  Is your reputation all about you being able to get things done fast?  

What are you known for is your fame.  

Another way of looking at this is ‘what is your brand?’ Your personal brand identity is really nothing more than your reputation.  The key of course is that once you have built your identity and have a reputation for something, to not lose it.  You see it all the time in businesses and personal lives.  People say they are intellectual because they read deep books in college, but that was 25 years ago and they haven’t explored things intellectually since.  The restaurant that has the great reputation, but now is mediocre and uncaring about the product.

Make sure you are being who you said you were years ago. Make sure you maintain your brand, your identity, otherwise it will catch up to you while you are sleeping.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by James Howell, 1594-1666, British historian and writer

Oct 07 0 comments
celebrity, Fame, John Keats

>Fame, Like a Wayward Girl

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Day #4 of ‘Fame Week’ at the Napkin Dad Daily

Have you ever witnessed (or maybe have been in the midst of it yourself) someone who is so desperate for something you just know it is going to slip between their fingers.  It might be a relationship, a job, money, or fame.  But whatever it is, you almost get the feeling there is a cruel joke being played. The person who wants it the most is not going to get it.


I watched an episode of the TV show Survivor last night. And in the episode there was one man who was seeking to be made the leader. He kept asking for a chance to be leader. He begged to be made leader. And the more he begged, the more people saw him as being too desperate and not likely to be a good leader.  The very act of communicating his desire so fervently was the deciding factor in the other people not wanting to help fulfill that desire.  He was not made leader.  He was voted off the island instead.


Whether you become famous or not, in the end you will still be living with yourself day to day, every day.  If you aren’t happy with that person, then being known world-wide is not going to help you.  Being confident inside yourself of your own worth and ability is the most secure way to deal with whatever happens, fame or obscurity.


Drawing by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by John Keats, 1795-1821, English Romantic poet


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Oh, and don’t forget to vote for The Napkin Dad at the aha moment campaign. It will make me famous, I am sure.


Oct 06 0 comments
Cato the Elder, celebrity, Death, Fame

>After I Am Dead

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Day #3 of ‘Fame Week’ on The Napkin Dad Daily

We have time travelled backward from yesterday, this quote is by Cato the Elder, who lived right smack dab in between Marcus Aurelius and Socrates.


Cato was a bit of an over achiever.  He was a diplomat, politician, historian and a farmer. He had seen many a monument to people whom he, no doubt, felt were unworthy of the honor but for their station and influence in life.  


His point is simple.  Better to let people say you should be more famous than to say you are not worthy of the fame you have.


Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Cato the Elder, Roman Renaissance man (before the Renaissance), 234 BCE – 149 BCE


Oct 05 2 comments
celebrity, Fame, Marcus Aurelius

>All is Ephemeral

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Day #2 of ‘Fame Week” at The Napkin Dad Daily.  Today we move into the Roman Empire with a quote by my favorite Emperor, Marcus Aurelius.
So, we started with Socrates talking about the perfume of heroic deeds being what fame is made of.  Now, 500-600 years later we read the Emperor Aurelius saying it will all fade away, fame and the famous.  What happened to make that transformation?

Well, most likely it was Marcus Aurelius’ own observations of the history of his time.  The golden age of Greece was ancient history to him by then, they were unearthing old remnants of that era and reconstructing some element of it but overall they saw it as long gone.  Even the rich and famous and powerful of his day were supplanted and forgotten.  The death of Caesar was already almost 200 years in the past.  That is roughly akin in our era to remembering back to the death of George Washington in 1799.

Yes, George is still famous.  Yes, Caesar is still famous.  But the Emperor is not really talking about those exceptions to the rule. He is talking about the hundreds and thousands and millions of others who thought themselves so important, so indispensable who are now forgotten by all.

It’s a sad thought in some ways, but it is a good thought in many more ways. It keeps us focused on the reality of now.  We may be remembered for a while, maybe hundreds or even thousands of years in some cases. but it’s not likely and it’s not something to depend on.

What we can depend on is now.  You are here now.  What deed can you do now? What obscure and unseen gesture can you do now to help a friend, encourage a co-worker? Will it lead to fame? Not likely. But will it lead to love and kindness growing? Yes, it will.  And that is worth more than all the fame you could ever gather for yourself.

Drawing by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 CE, Stoic philosopher, Emperor of the Roman Empire

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Don’t forget to VOTE in the ‘aha moment’ campaign!  Once per computer unti
l Oct. 15th, then, if I reach the finals, the voting starts again.

Oct 04 0 comments
celebrity, Fame, heroes, Socrates, war

Fame is the Perfume of Heroic Deeds

Let’s have a ‘Fame Week’ at The Napkin Dad Daily, shall we?  I want to go through history and see how the perception has changed.  First up, Socrates.

Not much has changed since Socrates lent this quote to history.  Back in the day, the mythic stories were all about the Greek military heroes.  Epic battles for the love of a woman, the pleasure of the Gods and the admiration of the people combined with the need for land, food, slaves, power, and glory to make for military sagas on land and sea, with the resulting fame for the men who prevailed, or in some cases died valiantly in the pursuit.

But the truth is no different than it is today.  Military fame is founded on ‘heroic’ deeds, but war is a terrible and wasteful way to find glory.  Any man or woman in combat will come back and tell you, it is anything but glory they are going through. But nonetheless, heroic deeds that sometimes demand their life are found throughout military history, on good and bad sides of the battle.  

Let’s see through the week how the perception of fame over the centuries has been amended and expanded.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Socrates, 469-399 BCE, Greek Athenian Philosopher

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