Ama nesari

 

Ama nesari, says the Imitation of Christ. Love to be unknown. We are happy with ourselves and with the world only when we conform to this precept.
Cioran ↓
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No one approaches the condition of a sage if be has not had the luck to be forgotten in his lifetime.
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Educating yourself not to leave traces is a moment-by-momcnt war against yourself, solely to prove that you could, if you chose, become a sage….
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Lucretius: we know nothing specific about his life.
Specific? Not even vague. An enviable destiny.
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In other times, the philosopher who did not write but thought incurred no scorn thereby; ever since we began prostrating ourselves before the effective, the work has become the absolute of vulgarity; those who produce none are regarded as failures. But such failures would have been the sages of another age; they will redeem ours by having left no traces.
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If only the morning wouldn’t dawn. If only I and this alcove and its interior atmosphere where I belong could all be spiritualized into Night, absolutized into Darkness, so that not so much as a shadow of me would remain that could taint, with my memory, whatever lived on.
Pessoa ↓
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Blessed are those who entrust their lives to no one.
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Do I dream of being famous? Then I feel all the public exposure that comes with glory, the total loss of privacy and anonymity that makes glory painful.
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I reduced my contact with others to a minimum. I did my best to lose all attachment to life ..... In time I even shed my desire for glory, like a sleepy man who takes off his clothes to go to bed.
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It is my ambition to attain to obscurity.
Nanamoli Thera
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A gentleman resents his incompetence, he does not resent his obscurity.
Confucius
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A man acclaimed is a man enchained.
Ceronetti
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Rather in a gutter than on a pedestal.
Cioran
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How fresh are hues of these who have remained in a shadow. Lec
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Being unknown is delightful, it has sometimes sour  aspects, but it is something extraordinary. Cioran
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So greatly blest were Metrodorus and I that is has been no harm to us to be unknown, and almost unheard of, in this well-known land of Greece.
Epicurus
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So much better to be neglected than championed or abused by the wrong people.
Nanamoli Thera
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Desire for glory is given up last even by the wise.
Tacitus
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Amazing, that passage where Jacqueline Pascal, sister of the philosopher, praises her brother’s progress in the “desire to be annihilated in the esteem and memory of men.” This is the way I had hoped to take, which I have taken on occasion, but on which I must have bogged down . . .
Cioran ↓
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I pretend to be forgotten, as if I ever were known.
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Paradise was ruined by the temptation of glory. Any time we want to step out of anonymity, this symbol of happiness, we submit ourselves to whispers of the snake.
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Except of success nothing cannot corrupt totally. "Fame" is the worst kind of curse which can befall a man.
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To throw oneself into anonymity.
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The privilege of being unknown increased his vainglory.
Cioran
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Celebrity: the advantage of being known by those who do not know you.
Chamfort ↓
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It is easy to reduce a fame to its true value: a virtuous or talented man known as such, exposes himself on passive friendliness of a few honest people and active unfriendliness of the all dishonest people. Just calculate it.
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"All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are actors on it" says Shakespeare. But actually only the men and women in the public gaze are actors on it. I for instance, whom - and this I hold one of my greatest blessings while it is so - the public does not gaze on, am not an actor, but only a scene-shifter: the stage is curtained when I and those like me move on it.
Or that is how I should like it to be always.
Nanamoli Thera
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“When it was said: ‘This Dhamma is for one with few desires, not for one with strong desires,’ with reference to what was this said? Here, when a bhikkhu is one with few desires, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be one with few desires.’ When he is content, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be one who is content.’ When he resorts to solitude, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be one who resorts to solitude.’ When he is energetic, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be energetic.’ When he is mindful, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be mindful.’ When he is concentrated, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be concentrated.’ When he is wise, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be wise.’ When he delights in non-diversification, he does not desire: ‘Let people know me to be one who delights in non-diversification.’ AN 8:30
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...The Blessed One declared that you possess these seven astounding and amazing qualities.” “I hope, Bhante, that no white-robed layman was present?” “No, friend. No white-robed layman was present.” “That’s good, Bhante.” Then that bhikkhu, having received almsfood at the residence of Hatthaka of Āḷavī, rose from his seat and departed. After his meal, on returning from his alms round, he approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, [and reported to him all that had happened]. [The Blessed One said:] “Good, good, bhikkhu! That clansman has few desires, since he does not want his inner wholesome qualities to be known by others. Therefore, bhikkhu, you should remember Hatthaka of Āḷavī as one who possesses this eighth astounding and amazing quality, that is, (8) fewness of desires.” AN 8:23