Paul Smith Quotes

You can find inspiration in everything. If you can't, then you're not looking properly.

What I adore is mixing the unexpected, things you don't imagine should go together

Don't dress for fashion, dress for yourself

Stop making sense. Logic is predictable. Think differently.

Many people look but they do not see.

Fashion is about today and tomorrow. Nobody cares how good you used to be

People, even children, aren't really afraid of change. They're afraid of not being prepared for change.

When life closes a door, God opens a window.

I think I was really naïve. I had no context to think about what I wanted to do. Each step was a next stage of exploration.

Experience is the best teacher. A compelling story is a close second.

I'm very curious and being childlike is vital in our industry

Maybe that's what I've based my career on: getting up earlier than everyone else so I get an extra couple of hours.

The Japanese are hard to understand, but once you do the world is your oyster.

When knowledge is scant or conflicting, folklore takes over.

I was always kind of naïve, and really needed to be given some direction.

I've always been a keen cyclist, I'm very close to the world of cycling. Not just cycling really - also walking, adventures, being a curious person, traveling to new countries.

I was always making things. I made model airplanes and did a number of hands-on activities. I liked creating in some form or another, not realizing what it was all about.

There's always an important person who helps support your interests and encourages you.

My parents never prevented me from doing anything, but they didn't have the knowledge of the arts that Mrs. Ranger had.

In a social studies class I did a paper on the history of Attica, which ended up being a little book that I created.

Charles Burchfield was exceptional. As such an accomplished artist, he had limited previous association with academia and teaching.

The pastors and ministry leaders came away energized to have voter registration drives at their churches and motivated to encourage their congregations to "vote their values."

At school there were some programs in music. I did take piano lessons, and we had a piano at home. I got very interested in that.

I was painting furniture, learning to stencil, and explore all kinds of traditional techniques of decoration. I learned from books that I picked up.

Going back to the elementary school days, I was always drawing. I entered a Victory poster competition and won the top award that recognized my artistic instincts.

I developed friends in the community that were in walking distance or a bicycle ride away, so that I socialized and did a lot of things that children do in their early years.

I was there [in school] the full time with one teacher, and the student body was never more than 10 or 12 students of all ages.

Being born in '31 was during the Depression and in my earlier youth World War II took place - so it was not the best of times, and yet I don't recall ever having experiences that were a burden.

Upon graduation, in the yearbook I was voted "Most likely to succeed." which I know was credited to my artistic achievements.

I know that I was conscious of all the aspects of the war, having had cousins who were in the army, who would send me notes and memorabilia. I began to collect things that they would send me.

I was always busy doing something, being an only child.

Even today, the bigger the city, the better. That's why I live in New York.

Fortunately, I had cousins who lived in Buffalo and would often go to visit them, which I loved to do because I liked Buffalo as it was a big city. Even today, the bigger the city, the better.

There was a certain amount of discipline, I think; my parents wanted to be sure that I was not just sitting around doing nothing.

It [piano lessons] wasn't a priority, but it was an interest and through that I became acquainted with classical music, which was a main interest at the time.

At home, the radio was a big source and the classic radio programs we would listen to like Amos and Andy and whatever other ones there were.

I was engaged in all the required courses of math and geometry, but the area that I blossomed in was the art program.

There were neighbors that I played with and did all the things that children do. I did mow the lawn. I did help with various things that needed to be done to occupy my time.

A story is the shortest distance between being a stranger and being a friend.