Quotes to live by from Alber Elbaz

Recently, Alber Elbaz, the former creative director for Lanvin and source of inspiration for much of the fashion industry, spoke at the Parsons School of Design. Even though Elbaz was speaking about the state of the fashion industry, his points transcend all industries. He hit upon notions that are core to changing societal behaviors, behaviors of both men and women that are inhibiting women from finding balance personally and professionally.

Some themes that stood out to me were:

• staying true to your abilities and passions, instead of trying to be someone or something that you’re not
• the good ole’ golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated
• fear of change, and how we should face it decisively

Here are the quotes, which can really apply to multiple parts of our lives: work, relationships, family, etc. They’re prime for Instagram, Pinterest, etc., to get some inspiration going.

“When you work for others, don’t try to become them, remain you. Let him be him, and you be you and then the two come together like alchemy and you create a third that is better than ever.” — Alber Elbaz

“When you are good and when you are professional, don’t be scared, because nobody can erase you.” — Alber Elbaz

“The one thing we don’t give to each other is time”. — Alber Elbaz

“I don’t deal well with bitches. The moment I work with difficult people I lose my creativity.” — Alber Elbaz

“You’re not working to become famous, you’re working to do a good job. Becoming famous is sometimes what happens when you do a good job.” — Alber Elbaz

“When there is a wind of change, we have two possibilities: either we build a wall to protect us from the wind or we build a windmill to make the wind go faster so we can take advantage of this wind.” — Alber Elbaz

“When you love people, people love you back. And when you don’t love people, people don’t love you back.” — Alber Elbaz

“There’s no formula, when you are with a group of people who make you happy to see every morning, the sky is the limit.” — Alber Elbaz

For all of the quotes, check out the original Forbes article.