Let’s start the month with these beautiful words by American poet, critic, editor, diplomat James Russell Lowell. I wish you many perfect days, despite all that is going on in this crazy, yet still beautiful world.
PEARLS OF WISDOM
BEAUTIFUL QUOTES ABOUT CHANGES
I recently read beautiful words posted by Arianna Huffington on Instagram (you can find them here, it’s the fifth photo) so I decided to search for words about change. Because we are undeniably going to live in a different world. Some will like it, some won’t.
These are beautiful words about change. I hope you’ll find inspiring.
SEE YOU IN 2020
Oops!… I did it again. I neglected the blog. I’m working on a project I care about so much but I’m sorry I couldn’t find the time to focus on We Believe in Style.
I’ll be back in 2020 and my mood for the upcoming year will be:
PEARLS OF WISDOM
HAPPINESS IS A WORK OF ART. HANDLE WITH CARE
If you regularly read this blog you noticed I took an (unexpected) break from blogging in September, when I was supposed to start writing again after an uninspired summer. Well, I didn’t write anything except for one post, and I feel pretty sad about this. I do really care about We Believe in Style but I neglected it for a long time. Too much time. I was thinking about coming back with a post about fashion, as I posted a photo of a draft in my Instagram stories but I decided to finish this old post, dedicated to happiness, which I started to write when I was deeply unhappy. Fashion is coming back, soon!
Happiness has always been a sweet, scary word to me. When it comes to life goals, people use to talk and write about almost everything but happiness. Isn’t it strange? If you google “happiness facts” (if I simply search for happiness an Italian brand of clothing comes out as first result), you’ll find many articles that will say more or less the same things. Doing good for others make us happy, being kind makes us happy, flowers make us happy, happiness is a choice, and blah blah blah. These ideas sound like religion stuff, to me. Of course doing good and being kind make us better persons, but it doesn’t guarantee a state of bliss.
I have the feeling that nowadays happiness is underrated, that some people mistake the pursuit of happiness for selfishness, as if being happy wasn’t necessary to live. Do you wish to be happy? Oh, you’re selfish! The world is a mess and you want to be happy? Oh, you’re sooo selfish! Henrik Ibsen wrote that “it is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life”. I agree.
These are some quotes about happiness. Some of them are pretty unconventional and maybe politically incorrect. That’s why they’re true.
I’ve always found amazing that, back in the 18th century, the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America considered the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right, along with life and liberty, even if I find very true the words of Italian writer Erri De Luca, who wrote that one must earn and defend his/her freedom but happiness no, that’s a gift.
People, obviously and rightly, have their own idea of happiness and it’s strange they often don’t accept the idea of others. I’m not a big fan of Kanye West (I just like some songs by him) but I immediately loved his words about happiness: “I refuse to accept other people’s ideas of happiness for me. As if there’s a ‘one size fits all’ standard for happiness”.
The most beautiful and saddest definition of life and happiness I’ve ever read is from “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo (the novel is full of beautiful sentences). “Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practical entrances. Happiness is an antique reliquary painted on one side only”. Aren’t these words so poetic?
Milan Kundera wrote one of my favorite novels, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, where you can find this definition of happiness, which I can relate so much.
And these are other quotes.
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These are among my favorite words about happiness, also because I love butterflies.
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These words are also attributed to Alexander Chalmers and many other writers and thinkers, so I don’t know who actually spoke or wrote them, but they’re beautiful and relatable.
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Choosing the title of this post was difficult. At the beginning I thought about a simple (SEO friendly) title like “true quotes about happiness” or “happiness: a thought and true words”. Then I changed my mind and I went for Edith Wharton’s words, even if the best title could maybe have been “happy are the loved ones and the lovers and those who can do without love. Happy are the happy” by writer Jorge Luis Borges. But it was too long.
To end this post I chose the words of Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni that say (maybe not in the most correct way) “be happy! And if sometimes happiness forgets you, don’t forget happiness!” which always remind me that happiness is the ultimate life goal. Don’t trust those who say it isn’t so.
THREE QUOTES THAT ARE MOTIVATING ME
I didn’t know who Les Brown was until I read some of his quotes, which truly spoke to me. Since I’m going through a complicated time and I feel somewhat overwhelmed, these words are helping me staying motivated and focused on my dreams and myself.
This statement reminds me of that of the Oracle of Delphi, which is “Know Thyself”, words that are also attributed to Greek philosopher Socrates.
These words made me think of those spoked by Nelson Mandela, “may your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears”.
I hope these words will speak to you the way they spoke to me.
PEARLS OF WISDOM
“The Crimson Petal and the White” is such a beautiful novel. If you haven’t read it, or you haven’t watched BBC miniseries starring Romola Garai (I haven’t), it’s the story of the social rise of a prostitute, Sugar, thanks to one of her rich clients, the heir of a cosmetics business, who purchases her from the brothel-keeper, which is also Sugar’s mother (if I’m not wrong, I read the novel years ago) to make her his own paramour. The novel is set in London, during the Victorian era.
Sugar is such a fascinating creature, one of those characters you get attached to. She’s beautiful, pretty cultured, and smart. She knows she deserves a better life and she manages to achieve it.
The words I chose for this post are beautifully and painfully true.
KARL LAGERFELD’S BEST QUOTES
As you know, Karl Lagerfeld passed away. Kaiser Karl’s contribution to fashion is immense and he was never afraid to speak his mind, for better or for worse.
These are some great quotes by Lagerfeld. Some are controversial, and I love them for that. To me, he was a free man, forever young.
“I’m very impeccable and clean before I go to bed. It’s just like before I’m going out. When I was a child, my mother always told me that you could wake up in the middle of the night and be deathly sick, so you always have to be impeccable. I laugh about it, but I think everyone should go to bed like they have a date at the door.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“Be politically correct, but please don’t bother other people with conversation about being politically correct, because that’s the ending of everything. You want to create boredom? Be politically correct in your conversation.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“They are this horrible thing where you are distorted. The chin is too big, the head is too small. No, this is electronic masturbation.” – Karl Lagerfeld (referring to selfies)
“I’m a working-class person, working with class.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“Fantasy is often better than reality. It’s much more inspiring not to go to places than to go.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“When people talk about the good old days, I say to people ‘It’s not the days that are old, it’s you that’s old’. I hate the good old days. What is important is that today is good.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“Youthfulness is about how you live, not when you were born.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“Forgiveness is too easy. I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“Guilty feelings about clothes are totally unnecessary. A lot of people earn their living by making clothes, so you should never feel bad.” – Karl Lagerfeld
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THREE NEW YEAR’S QUOTES
Three new year’s quotes that are not cheesy, because I admit starting the year with a post about quotes is anything but original.
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PEARLS OF WISDOM
These words by the American journalist and novelist immediately struck me, they’re so true. Do you ever feel like time flies and you are not capable to do all the things you’d like to do because of lack of time? Or because you fear you’re not capable and you blame the time, which goes too fast? I do.
So, these words by Hemingway are a good reminder that every day counts, that you can make a day count. And that it’s all about today.