Coco Chanel

"Fashion is not democracy. It is not liberalism. It is absolute, autocratic, and at the same time, it is a hit and run process."

"I invented a life for myself. I had to. There was no other life available."

"The moment a woman relies on her beauty, she is lost."

"It takes decades to build a reputation and a few minutes to ruin it."

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will."

"A woman is as young as her knees."

"Never stop inventing. Never stop improving."

"The prettiest face means nothing if there is no character behind it."

"The secret to staying young is to lie about your age and color your hair."

"I made myself indispensable. That's the only way."

"Fashion is the science of appearance, and politics are the science of facts."

"One must never forbid what one wishes people to do; if one wishes them to do something, one must make them do it."

"You don't have to be born beautiful to be interesting."

"The rich are not a race apart. They are unfortunate."

"Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse."

"Crisis? That simply means that things cannot stay as they are."

"I have always believed that fashion and war are the same. You prepare for the attack."

"Success is the best revenge."

"Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself."

"The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face."

"Women will only be equal to men when they stop accepting less."

"If you're sad, add more lipstick and attack."

"Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman."

"I am not an intellectual. I prefer interesting people."

"Youth is something very new: twenty years ago no one mentioned it."

"The real danger for any artist is not following your immediate feeling."

"Dare to be yourself."

"I want to be cremated. I don't want to be placed in a coffin, I want to be placed in an urn."

"You can be anything you want to be, just turn yourself into anything you ever dreamed."

"I don't care what people think. I never did."