Lisa See Quotes

Why should 20-year-olds only be considered sexy? I think we get better with age.

Here in L.A. the standard of beauty is kind of ridiculous. I want to be doing this when I'm in my fifties and sixties and this isn't what I'm going to look like.

I was beautiful. Now, because I am old, I take no shame in so saying.

There is so much more than that little space from 14 to 40. And if you cut that off and begin to believe that you are not good past a certain age, then you end up scared and insecure and afraid. That is definitely NOT beautiful.

You don't have to be age 20 and size zero to be sexually viable or viable as a woman.

So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women.

Look at Michelle Pfeiffer: My God, she's 50 years old, but she is still so sexy. If I were into women, I would be totally into her.

It used to happen in villages and towns in China that they would have - I guess you'd call them beauty contests - where all of the women of a particular village or town would be seated behind these screens or curtains with only their feet showing.

That whole sex symbol thing I never took seriously to begin with. Thank goodness, or I'd be suffering right now because it's out of your hands what happens to you with age.

Age is just a number, and I know so many women who look fabulous at 40, 50 and 60 so it doesn't scare me. It's inevitable - I will get older, and the wrinkles will come, but I'm not that bothered.

This idea that being youthful is the only thing that's beautiful or attractive simply isn't true. I don't want to be an 'ageless beauty.' I want to be a woman who is the best I can be at my age.

I wasn't afraid of getting old, because I was never a great beauty.

You can be beautiful with big breasts; you can be beautiful in your 40s. If you don't have perfect ankles, still you can move your legs in a certain way and look very sexy.

And one of the interesting things about bound feet is that they never age.

Younger women tend to be busier, wearing more layers and more make-up. I don't know if it's because older women are more confident, or just that we don't care any more. But that pared-down approach is the same with the sentences I write; I take out adjectives and adverbs and keep the description to a minimum.

I don't like getting older, but there's nothing I can do. Hitting 60 wasn't great, but I think I was lucky in not being that beautiful; it can be really cruel on people who have been stunning.

It doesn't matter what age you are. You can look sexy and feel great, and that doesn't have to be a gift only for the young. It can be a gift for any age, even the old, whatever that is nowadays.

I am old, but I feel very beautiful.

I've developed into quite a swan. I'm one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older until I drop dead of beauty.

Whenever I go to New York or any European country, they say: 'Nawal, why don't you get a facelift?' I tell them, 'I am proud of my wrinkles. Every wrinkle on my face tells the story of my life. Why should I hide my age?'

I was raised by an actress, and I watched all those women turn 60 and ask, Shouldn't get face work? My mother and Anne Bancroft said, We're not going to fall into that.

Oh, I had, 'No one will ever fancy me!' I had that well into my teens. Even now I do not consider myself to be some kind of great, sexy beauty. I don't mind the way I'm ageing. No reason to panic just yet. I think I look my age, and that's fine.

I remember I was walking through a store, and I saw clothes a 25-year-old would wear. And the conversation in my head was, 'I'm not young and fabulous anymore.' But, immediately, there was a voice that said, 'No, you can be older and fabulous.' In other words, still just as fabulous, but in a different way.

We equate beauty for women with youth, and that's sad. It's a shame it's so hard for so many of us to appreciate the beauty of an older woman and to accept it in ourselves.

In my 40s, I expect to finally reap the average-looking girl's revenge. I've entered the stage of life where you don't need to be beautiful; simply by being well-preserved and not obese, I would now pass for pretty.