Moliere Quotes

A little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world.

Avoid singularity. There may often be less vanity in following the new modes than in adhering to the old ones. It is true that the foolish invent them, but the wise may conform to, instead of contradicting, them.

The wise man should withdraw his soul within, out of the crowd, and keep it in freedom and power to judge things freely; but as for externals, he should wholly follow the accepted fashions and forms.

It is not always wise to appear singular.

As to matters of dress, I would recommend one never to be first in the fashion nor the last out of it.

Human beings are a social species. We like to hang together in groups, just like wildebeests, just like lions. Wildebeests don't hang with lions because lions eat wildebeests. Human beings are like that. We do what that group does that we're trying to identify with.

The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.

To be a good Briton, a man must trade profitably, marry respectably, live cleanly, avoid excess, revere the established order, and wear his heart in his breeches pocket or anywhere but on his sleeve.

Sometimes, if you wear suits for too long, it changes your ideology.

The idea of seeing everybody clad the same is not really my cup of tea.

Do you know what we are those of us who count as pillars of society? We are society's tools, neither more nor less.

The finest clothing made is a person's own skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.

I try to be as normal as I can.

When people are free to do as we please, they usually imitate each other.

It is true I am rather taken up with dress; but as to feathers, every one wears them, and it would seem extraordinary if I did not.

What is social proof? Put simply, it's the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. It's also known as informational social influence.

I decided to... just be normal.

When you're in a friend circle, you all kind of talk the same way. And it's hard to do on-the-fly radio edits of yourself.

There would not be so much harm in the giddy following the fashions, if somehow the wise could always set them.

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established

Political correctness is a bit like a granny, a maiden aunt arriving at a party when everyone's having a good time. And she comes in, they all start sort of buttoning up and becoming self-conscious and behaving properly and then when she leaves, you can have fun again.

We live not according to reason, but according to fashion.

When will conventional good manners become attractive? When will ladies of fashion exhibit their shoulders a little less and their affability and wit a little more?

When any practice has become the fixed rule of the society in which we live, it is always wise to adhere to that rule, unless it call upon us to do something that is actually wrong. One should not offend the prejudices of the world, even if one is quite sure that they are prejudices.

The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is; he does not desire to go beyond this.