Amanda Filipacchi > Quotes

“We think we know people. We think that what we see is all there is. We rarely ask ourselves what goes on behind the curtain. We jump to conclusions. And we take everything very personally.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty

“I am a man without many pleasures in life, a man whose few pleasures are small, but a man whose small pleasures are very important to him. One of them is eating. One reading. Another reading while eating.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, Nude Men

“Making wishes on the elephant is emotionally dangerous, because inevitably one's hopes rise abnormally high, unhealthily high, and when the wish does not come true, one's high hopes get crushed more painfully than if one had not asked for the help of supernatural powers. Therefore, one should always try to make the wish casually and forget about it instantly after making it, which is what I try to do now.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, Nude Men

“When I asked him for some explanation as to why he wanted to kill me, he said it was because he didn't like his jobs. When I asked him since when had he not liked his jobs, he said since always. When I remarked that he had never told me this, and that I had gotten the impression that he had liked them, he said: "How is that possible? You know me. Do I strike you as stupid or boring?"
"No."
"Then how could you think I would enjoy being an etiquette expert, or a Weight Watchers' counselor, or a stripper? How could you think that someone like me, with my mind, my character, would derive any satisfaction from those things?”
― Amanda Filipacchi, Vapor

“In my work, I see a lot of women who suffer from low self-esteem. They think they’re unattractive, but the way society today—” “I don’t think I’m unattractive,” she says. “That’s good. That’s great. It’s not something women are always aware of on a conscious level, though. So, I would like you to be open-minded to the possibility that perhaps, deep down, you might be feeling unattractive without being aware of it. And if that’s the case, you might feel there’s no point in even trying to look better.” “Yeah but, no. I don’t think I’m unattractive. And I don’t think it subconsciously either.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty

“Why is it that a connection that seems to have nothing to do with looks—because it feels so much deeper than that, like a connection of minds and souls—is actually entirely dependent on looks?”
― Amanda Filipacchi, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty

“No, things are not okay, but I must compartmentalize. Just because there’s a problem in one life-box doesn’t mean it has to create a problem in all my other life-boxes.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty

“They may not realize it, but consistently thinking of the external appearance as both supremely important and also as an object whose uniqueness and differences are not valued or appreciated and must therefore be butchered and uniformized has got to wear the spirit down on some deep level.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty

“It's not so hard to find O.I.M.s, I realize. Almost everyone is an Optical Illusion Person. Isn't everyone almost a certain way, but not quite?”
― Amanda Filipacchi, Nude Men

“Walking on eggshells is what stupid people call the effort required not to offend someone. For smart people, not offending takes no effort.”
― Amanda Filipacchi, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty