Context

This line was written by Andy Warhol for an art exhibit at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden (1968).

Andy Warhol, whose artwork was M'm! M'm! Good!, had a lot of thoughts on pop culture and fame. In a Time magazine article in 1967, Andy Warhol predicted the future as a time "when everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." The next year, he included a similar version of this quote in an art show, saying, "In the future, everybody will be world-famous for fifteen minutes."

Warhol remixed this quote over the course of his career, saying in 1978, "In fifteen minutes everybody will be famous." Start the countdown…

Where you've heard it

You've heard the phrase "fifteen minutes of fame." The entire concept came from Andy Warhol, decades before reality TV made it even more likely for a person to achieve their fifteen minutes (or longer, in some cases) of fame… or infamy.

Additional Notable References:

• Artist Banksy put a spin on this quote, saying "In the future, everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes"
• Modern composers collaborated on a work called "Fifteen Minutes of Fame"
• Family Guy has an episode titled "Fifteen Minutes of Shame"

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Unlike Warhol himself, this quote has gotten way less pretentious with age. With YouTube, Vine, and more, it's a lot easier to get that fifteen minutes of fame.