Belloc on becoming famous

Tags: 1904, Anecdotes, Fame, Hilaire Belloc, Literature, Writing

“My advice to a young writer who is merely thinking of fame,” Belloc once wrote, “is to concentrate on one subject. Let him, when he is twenty, write about the earthworm. Let him continue for forty years to write about nothing but the earthworm. When he is sixty, pilgrims will make a hollow path with their feet to the door of the world’s greatest authority on the earthworm. They will knock on his door and humbly beg to be allowed to see the Master of the Earthworm.”

Note:

Belloc was so embarrassed about the substandard stuff he had to write to make a living, that one day, when he was traveling by train and saw a man reading his ‘History of England’ in front of him, he asked the man how much he had paid for the book. The man disclosed the sum, Belloc took the money from his wallet, handed it to the man, snatched the book from his grasp and threw it out of the window…

Tags: 1904, Anecdotes, Fame, Hilaire Belloc, Literature, Writing