'The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud' - 25 Coco Chanel quotes to live by

Coco Chanel's best quotes were full of wisdom and wit. Read 25 of her snappiest sayings...

Coco Chanel quotes

Coco Chanel's best quotes were full of wisdom and wit. Read 25 of her snappiest sayings...

Here at Marie Claire HQ we often find ourselves posing the question, ‘WWCS (What Would Coco Say)?’If we’re ever in doubt, we look to the incredible fashion pioneer for some harsh, yet true words of wisdom. Besides being one of the most influential figures in the fashion world, she was also one of the sassiest women in the biz. We’ve pulled together some of Coco Chanel's sharpest quotes:

1. ‘Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.’

2. ‘The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Slumber party

3. ‘In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.’

4. ‘You live but once; you might as well be amusing.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

5. ‘I don’t do fashion, I am fashion.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Iconic

6. ‘Only those with no memory insist on their originality.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

7. ‘Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Power walk

8. ‘My life didn’t please me, so I created my life.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

9. ‘I imposed black; it is still going strong today, for black wipes out everything else around.'

best Coco Chanel quotes

Bottoms up

10 ‘As long as you know men are like children, you know everything!’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Great layering

11. ‘I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Yassss

12. ‘Fashion changes, but style endures.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

13. ‘There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Fashion prep

14. ‘A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

15. ‘You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Words to live by

16. ‘A woman can be over dressed but never over elegant.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

17. ‘Men always remember a woman who caused them concern and uneasiness.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Serious living room chats

18. ‘Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Pretty in pink

19. ‘Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

20. ‘I don’t know why women want any of the things men have when one of the things that women have is men.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Taking a break

21. ‘How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Nothing out of place

22. ‘Gentleness doesn’t get work done unless you happen to be a hen laying eggs.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

A legend

23. ‘It is always better to be slightly underdressed.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Great neckwear

24. 'The best colour in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.'

best Coco Chanel quotes

With the gals

25. ‘Elegance is refusal.’

best Coco Chanel quotes

Coco Chanel