Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.
Interpretation
Fame and success are not the same; one can be famous without being truly successful.
This quote emphasizes the distinction between fame and true success. Fame often comes from public recognition or popularity, while success is more about personal achievements and contributions that lead to meaningful outcomes in life. Erma Bombeck contrasts Madonna, who is widely known for her celebrity status, with Helen Keller, whose enduring legacy is marked by her extraordinary accomplishments and impact on society, illustrating that true success lies in the depth and substance of one's contributions rather than in mere visibility or recognition.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal values and life goals.
We've got a generation now who were born with semiequality. They don't know how it was before, so they think, this isn't too bad. We're working. We have our attache' cases and our three piece suits. I get very disgusted with the younger generation of women. We had a torch to pass, and they are just sitting there. They don't realize it can be taken away. Things are going to have to get worse before they join in fighting the battle.
You hear a lot of dialogue on the death of the American family. Families aren't dying. They're merging into big conglomerates.
Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It's the only thing "real" men do that doesn't seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it's on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw.
Not everyone is comfortable with the kissing ritual. My husband is one of them. Her refuses to press lips with anyone except his wife, mother, and dog. If someone wanted to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he would refuse until he had been formally introduced.
There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
Maybe age is kinder to us than we think. With my bad eyes, I can't see how bad I look, and with my rotten memory, I have a good excuse for getting out of a lot of stuff.
Going to the Portland Trail Blazers, who actually took the time to invest in me, was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in my career. I got to a small market where I could focus on basketball, basketball, basketball. No distractions.
If you have no critics you'll likely have no success.
In order to get as much fame as one's father one has to much more able than he.
It would have been great to have had 10 victories and been in the playoffs and have gone all the way and then said, 'Goodbye,' but it didn't work out that way.
When it comes to being badass nothing beats this It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.
The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.
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