Am 19. Februar ist Karl Lagerfeld gestorben. Einer der kreativsten, gescheitesten Zeitgenossen. Gescheit im Sinne von lebensgescheit. Aus dem Buch ein paar zufällige Zitate:

You have to lead your life according  to your ideas. Spend all your money and live life in line with what you are fighting for.

I hate it when rich people try to be Communists. I think that’s obscene.

If you throw your money out of the window, do it with passion. Don’t say ‚you shouldn’t do that, that’s bourgeois.

Luxury is freedom of spirit, independence, basically political incorrectness.

The essential thing is not that people should sit on their money. It has to come out of their pockets.

What is this obsession always to be with people. Solitude is the biggest luxury.

What’s fun is collecting, not owning. But to get rid of things, you have to have owned things. People who have never had money and say they don’t like it don’t know what it is. As for those who have it and don’t like it they should give it back! Money is made to go round, not to bring in more money.

I like people who live beyond their means, who throw money out of the window, adventurers. The danger is rich people being afraid and not spending it. I hate rich people who live within their means.

It’s not that I think I’m good, but it could be worse. I  did’t come up with my character. It’s a series of evolutions and chance events that produce. It’s not something I thought about.

I like the idea that people think I’m wicked. I’m a bit of a chump. I’m never happy. I’m in a permanent state of dissatisfaction.

With wordplay you’ve got me. I just love it.

When I hear old fools say ‚elegance is dead I tell them: ’no it’s not, its face has changed.

If you don’t have an elegant physique, the most elegant dress won’t change that. An Ethiopian peasant can be madly elegant, and a very rich person may look like a pint pot. Elegance isn’t about having a well-stocked closet, or a well-stocked wallet.

Elegance is an attitude, a way of moving. It’s not a patented idea: over the years ambitions and ideas change.

Today, I think of elegance as a moral or physical phenomenon, not something to do with fabrics, cosmetics or perfume.

There comes a time in life when the idea of beauty and youth has to give way to style and elegance.