Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.
Coco ChanelRead
Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future.
Interpretation
Elegance is a quality that transcends age and is achieved by those who embrace their future.
Coco Chanel's quote emphasizes that true elegance is not limited to youth or to those who are simply emerging from their teenage years. Instead, it suggests that elegance is a characteristic of those who have taken control of their lives and are confidently moving towards their future, reflecting a sense of maturity and self-awareness rather than superficiality or immaturity.
In practice
In a speech about personal development, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of maturity in achieving true elegance.
Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.
Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.
Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.
You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life.
Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress.
Look for the woman in the dress. If there is no woman, there is no dress.
The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.
The aim of poetry and the poet is finally to be of service, to ply the effort of the individual into the larger work of the community as a whole.
I write poetry because I can’t disobey the impulse; it would be like blocking a spring that surges up in my throat. For a long time I’ve been the servant of the song that comes, that appears and can’t be buried away. How to seal myself up now?…It no longer matters to me who receives what I submit. What I carry out is, in that respect, greater and deeper than I, I am merely the channel.
I work with writers whom I believe to be true storytellers. And because I'm a writer, I pay very keen attention to their vision. I find that so fueling creatively because, in telling those stories, you use everything you've got. You come away with battle scars. It's gratifying and invigorating.
Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue
I strongly believe that the art of the novel works best when the writer identifies with whoever he or she is writing about. Novels in the end are based on the human capacity, compassion, and I can show more compassion to my characters if I write in a first person singular.
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