"The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies"
About this Quote
The subtext is a quiet rebuke to the meritocracy story we tell about builders. In the popular narrative, recognition validates the work; here, recognition merely anesthetizes guilt. That matters because it frames success less as a triumphant climb than as an accident of focus meeting a receptive world. Torvalds isnt claiming saintly purity - hes admitting the human need to justify time, especially time stolen from responsibilities that institutions can measure.
Context sharpens the point. Early Linux was a student project in an era when software reputations traveled through mailing lists and newsgroups, not PR teams. Credibility functioned as currency: once the community rewarded him, he could keep building with social legitimacy. The irony is that fame, often treated as corrupting, becomes a kind of ethical cover - not for vanity, but for choosing craft over coursework.
Its also a sly comment on how innovation actually happens: not through motivated strivers chasing status, but through people so engaged they need society to retroactively pardon the detour.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work Ethic |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Torvalds, Linus. (n.d.). The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-fame-and-reputation-part-came-later-and-never-96422/
Chicago Style
Torvalds, Linus. "The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-fame-and-reputation-part-came-later-and-never-96422/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-fame-and-reputation-part-came-later-and-never-96422/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
