Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience — the knowledge that our mighty deeds will come to the ears of our contemporaries or “of those who are to be.” We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building up, by our heroic deeds, in the opinion and imagination of others.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman

True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 47 (1951)
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