Iris Apfel Quotes

We must explain the truth: There is no free lunch.

I've done everything I wanted to do, even if I have had to pay a very high price - which has been the case most of the time.

I think when you grow up - cement floors, tin roofs, having to amuse yourselves... you know, the importance of work - I think these are benefits that I've had.

My mom did a good job making sure I worked for everything I got. Really, it just helped me realize the real world and how people who don't have everything have to work for stuff.

Novels teach you that actions have consequences. They help you grow up.

They are the guiding oracles which man has found out for himself in that great business of ours, of learning how to be, to do, to do without, and to depart.

You're doing your kids a disservice if they do get everything they want because that's not the way life's going to go, and I think kids have to have some reality.

'There are no easy pickings.' That would be a more accurate, less dramatic statement than 'There's no such thing as a free lunch.'

I learned that you appreciate what you earn much more than what is given you. I also learned that decisions have consequences.

Indeed, many of life's most fun and pleasurable choices come with potential dangers. It's important for my son to grow up recognizing that what might appear exciting or inviting at first glance could also have eventual negative consequences.

Nothing in life is free, you always pay in the end.

My parents never ceased to struggle, but in witnessing their lives, I learned more about natural industry and leadership than in any classroom.

Pretty much everything I carry with me, I learned I needed the hard way. I sweated, dry-lipped, dry-mouthed, soaked-to-the-skinned my way through all of these lessons.

You can't throw away years of your life because it makes a funny anecdote.

You don't get nothing for nothing in this life.

We're constantly faced with decisions. A lot of times, the right ones take more work; it takes longer to see benefit: they're the long route.

I'd rather live my life and do what I love and experience it. If I have some issues when I'm older, I mean, that's the cost of living a fantastic life.

You've got to learn to let go and let your children fall, and fail. If you try to protect them from hurt, and always rush to their side with Band-Aids, they won't learn about life, and what is true, what works, what helps, and what are real consequences of certain kinds of behavior. When they do get hurt, which they will, they won't know how to take care of their grown selves. They won't even know where the aspirin is kept.

Experience comprises illusions lost, rather than wisdom gained.

Everything good requires sacrifices.

The optimal choice that you can make in any situation is to grow spiritually. That means intending to create harmony, sharing, cooperation and reverence for life... There is wisdom in each of your choices because each of them creates consequences that you mwill experience and if you choose, learn from.

Pursue joy, not happiness. This is probably the hardest lesson of all to learn. It probably seems to you that the goal in life is to be happy. Oh, you maybe have to sacrifice and study and work hard, but, by and large, happiness should be predictable.

I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life. I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work.

He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had.

I'm older, and I wish that a lot of things that I did in my life, I didn't do, but I'm able to talk about it.