No man is esteemed for gay garments, but by fools and women.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
Beauty gains little, and homeliness and deformity lose much by gaudy attire.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–95) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
In the indications of female poverty there can be no disguise.—No woman dresses below herself from caprice.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Judge not a man by his clothes, but by his wife’s clothes.
—Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (1864–1930) Scottish Whisky Distiller
In civilized society external advantages make us more respected.—A man with a good coat on his back meets with a better reception than he who has a bad one.—You may analyze this and say, what is there in it?—But that will avail you nothing, for it is a part of a general system.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on with a pitch folk.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
It is not every man that can afford to wear a shabby coat; and worldly wisdom dictates the propriety of dressing somewhat beyond one’s means, but of living within them, for every one sees how we dress, but none see how we live unless we choose to let them.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Had Cicero himself pronounced one of his orations with a blanket about his shoulders, more people would have laughed at his dress than admired his eloquence.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
As you treat your body, so your house, your domestics, your enemies, your friends.—Dress is the table of your contents.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
If men can run the world, why can’t they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?
—Linda Ellerbee (b.1944) American Journalist
From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
So dress and conduct yourself so that people who have been in your company will not recall what you had on.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
We act the way we dress. Neglected and untidy clothes reflect a neglected and untidy mind.
—Unknown
Dress yourself fine, where others are fine, and plain, where others are plain; but take care always that your clothes are well made and fit you, for otherwise they will give you a very awkward sir.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Two things in my apparel I will chiefly aim at—commodiousness and decency; more than these is not commendable; yet I hate an effeminate spruceness, as much as a fantastic disorder.—A neglected comeliness is the best ornament.
—Anonymous
The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the spirit of its form shall communicate itself to the very disguise and indicate the shape it hides from the manner in which it is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most barbarous and tasteless costume.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Sir, a man who cannot get to heaven in a green coat, will not find his way thither the sooner in a gray one.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
An emperor in his night-cap would not meet with half the respect of an emperor with a crown.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
When a woman dresses up for an occasion, the man should become the black velvet pillow for the jewel.
—John Weitz (1923–2002) German-American Designer, Novelist, Historian
Persons are often misled in regard to their choice of dress by attending to the beauty of colors, rather than selecting such colors as may increase their own beauty.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
There is much to support the view that it is clothes that wear us and not we them; we may make them take the mould of arm or breast, but they would mould our hearts, our brains, our tongues to their liking.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, but not expressed in fancy; rich, but not gaudy, for the apparel oft proclaims the man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
In clothes clean and fresh there is a kind of youth with which age should surround itself.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
He was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say “when!”
—P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) British Novelist, Short-story Writer, Playwright
How to dress? When the money is going from you wear anything you like. When the money is coming to you, dress your best.
—Common Proverb
The perfection of dress is in the union of three requisites—in its being comfortable, cheap, and tasteful.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
We sacrifice to dress till household joys and comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar dry, and keeps our larder clean; puts out our fires, and introduces hunger, frost, and woe, where peace and hospitality might reign.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
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