Fame will go by and, so long, I’ve had you fame.
Genuine
Yes. In Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, Marilyn Lets Her Hair Down About Being Famous, LIFE, 3 August 1962; full interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection.
Checked against Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, Marilyn Lets Her Hair Down About Being Famous, LIFE, 3 August 1962; full interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, in a full-text transcription.
- Where
- Richard Meryman interview, LIFE, 3 August 1962; final paragraph of the published interview
- Source
- Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, Marilyn Lets Her Hair Down About Being Famous, LIFE, 3 August 1962; full interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 26 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
At the end of Meryman’s interview, Monroe considers what it would mean if the film industry declared her finished. She says that her life is in her work and a few dependable relationships rather than in celebrity. Immediately after this sentence she acknowledges fame’s fickleness and distinguishes having experienced it from living in it.
What it means
She can value having been famous without making enduring fame the basis of her life.
Often misread
Its proximity in print to her death can make it sound like a deathbed farewell. It belongs to a discussion about the possible end of a career and the instability of public recognition; it should not be presented as her final spoken words or evidence of an intention to die.
Topics
Related quotes
- That’s the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing.
- I just need to know that someone out there listens and understands and doesn’t try to sleep with people even if they could have. I need to know that these people exist. Stephen Chbosky
- Choosing seemed to me not so much selecting as rejecting what I did not select. André Gide
- People empty me. I have to get away to refill. Charles Bukowski
- An actor is not a machine.
Sources
Cite it
Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, Marilyn Lets Her Hair Down About Being Famous, LIFE, 3 August 1962; full interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/fame-will-go-by/ (26 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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