68 Virginia Postrel Quotes for You to Enjoy

Virginia Postrel

American Writer

Born: Jan 14, 1960

Good Internet Life People World You

Related authors: Dale Carnegie Denis Waitley Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Ray Bradbury W. E. B. Du Bois William Arthur Ward

European nations began World War I with a glamorous vision of war, only to be psychologically shattered by the realities of the trenches. The experience changed the way people referred to the glamour of battle; they treated it no longer as a positive quality but as a dangerous illusion. Virginia Postrel

Positive War Quality Experience Battle People World Dangerous Vision Illusion Changed Trenches Way Only Glamorous Glamour Longer Shattered Referred Began Nations Psychologically Realities European European Nations Treated World War World War I

The elements that create glamour are not specific styles - bias-cut gowns or lacquered furniture - but more general qualities: grace, mystery, transcendence. To the right audience, Halle Berry is more glamorous commanding the elements as Storm in the X-Men movies than she is walking the red carpet in a designer gown. Virginia Postrel

Grace Furniture Carpet Berry General More Mystery Glamorous Glamour Red Red Carpet Qualities She Halle Halle Berry Styles Audience Commanding Gown Walking Than Storm Movies Create Elements Specific Right Designer

Like the skyscraper, the automobile, and the motion-picture palace, neon signs once symbolized popular hopes for a new era of technological achievement and commercial abundance. From the 1920s to the 1950s, neon-lit streets pulsed with visual excitement from Vancouver to Miami. Virginia Postrel

Most of us cluster somewhere in the middle of most statistical distributions. But there are lots of bell curves, and pretty much everyone is on a tail of at least one of them. We may collect strange memorabilia or read esoteric books, hold unusual religious beliefs or wear odd-sized shoes, suffer rare diseases or enjoy obscure movies. Virginia Postrel

Strange Rare Somewhere Shoes Enjoy Everyone Books Statistical At Least One Collect Memorabilia Religious Religious Beliefs Wear Pretty Tail Obscure Most Read Unusual Least Lots Esoteric Diseases May Middle Hold Curves Movies Them Cluster Us Much Beliefs Suffer Bell

America is a mosaic not of groups but of individuals, each of whom carries a host of cultural influences, some chosen, some inherited, some absorbed by osmosis. That mosaic is held together by the pursuit of happiness, the most powerful mortar ever conceived. Left alone, it will long endure. Virginia Postrel

Happiness Alone Together Will Long Carries Some Pursuit Pursuit Of Happiness Host Absorb Individuals Mortar Powerful Mosaic Conceived Most Most Powerful Cultural Left America Endure Influences Held Inherited Groups Each Whom Chosen Ever

Religion, art, and science flourish best in a free society. True, freedom does not afford much opportunity for grand gestures. It has little room for martyrs. But life is not supposed to be about dying well. It is about living well. Virginia Postrel

Life Art Best Freedom Religion Science Opportunity Free Free Society Living Society About Martyrs True Supposed True Freedom Well Does Gestures Afford Dying Grand Little Room Much Flourish

Abundant choice doesn't force us to look for the absolute best of everything. It allows us to find the extremes in those things we really care about, whether that means great coffee, jeans cut wide across the hips, or a spouse who shares your zeal for mountaineering, Zen meditation, and science fiction. Virginia Postrel

Best Great Science Coffee Care Meditation Everything Extremes Those Find About Absolute Shares Abundant Look Force Science Fiction Spouse Hips Mountaineering Fiction Whether Cut Us Really Choice Across Means Your Who Jeans Zeal Zen Wide Things

Science is about exploring the unknown and cannot offer guarantees. Virginia Postrel

Science Unknown About Offer Cannot Exploring Guarantees

The SAT is not perfect. We all know smart, knowledgeable people who do badly on standardized tests. But neither is it useless. SAT scores do measure both specific knowledge and valuable thinking skills. Virginia Postrel

Kidney donors don't have to be close relatives of recipients, but they do need to have the right blood type. And kidneys from living donors tend to last many years longer than kidneys from deceased donors. Virginia Postrel

Relatives Living Recipients Type Kidney Tend Longer Years Blood Close Than Deceased Donors Many Right Last Need

Airline glamour never promised anything as mundane as elbow room, much less a flat bed, a massage, or an arugula salad. It promised a better world. Service and dress reflected the more formal era, but no one expected air travel to be comfortable. It was amazing just to have hot food above the clouds. Virginia Postrel

Service Food Travel Clouds World Better Amazing Better World Air Air Travel Airline Promised Dress Above More Never Glamour No-One Hot Massage Comfortable Bed Era Salad Reflected Expected Just Formal Anything Flat Elbow Room Much Less Mundane

Glamour invites us to live in a different world. It has to simultaneously be mysterious, a little bit distant - that's why, often in these glamour shots, the person is not looking at the audience, it's why sunglasses are glamorous - but also not so far above us that we can't identify with the person. Virginia Postrel

World Looking Live Distant Bit Sunglasses Above Mysterious Glamorous Glamour Simultaneously Invites Also Identify Audience Person Often Different Little Little Bit Far Us Shots Different World Why

Persuasion has become a kind of force. The more the advertiser knows about what consumers want, and the more desires the product and packaging seek to fulfill, the more coercive the force. Virginia Postrel

Become Kind Seek About More Consumers Advertiser Force Knows Want Packaging Fulfill Persuasion Product Coercive Desires

Neon signs don't consume much power, but they look like they do. A cousin of fluorescent lighting, neon is actually quite energy efficient. A neon tube glows coolly when high-voltage, low-amperage electrical power excites the gas within it. Virginia Postrel

Signs Power Energy Consume Excites Lighting Like Look Within Cousin Efficient Tube Quite Much Electrical Actually Gas

From the days of biplanes and silk scarves, the aviator has been the archetype of masculine glamour. Aviators have personified national ideals, from French elan to Soviet party discipline. They've inspired lust and admiration. They've turned sunglasses and short, utilitarian leather jackets into fashion statements. Virginia Postrel

Fashion Discipline Party National Lust Statements Has-Been Sunglasses Admiration Silk Inspired Glamour Masculine Days Ideals French Leather Been Jackets Soviet Short Turned Utilitarian

Glamour is all about transcending this world and getting to an idealized, perfect place. And this is one reason that modes of transportation tend to be extremely glamorous. The less experience we have with them, the more glamorous they are. So you can do a glamorized picture of a car, but you can't do a glamorized picture of traffic. Virginia Postrel

A lot of consumers actively enjoy advertising, especially fashion print ads and clever TV commercials. The nostalgic cable channel TVLand features not only vintage shows but also vintage commercials. Virginia Postrel

What makes a loft authentic isn't its layout or its history but its ability to give people a true home - a dwelling that reflects their personalities and aspirations, including their dreams of urbanity. Virginia Postrel

Dreams Home History People Loft Ability Give Layout True Makes Authentic Reflects Dwelling Personalities Aspirations Including

Dialysis does not make patients well. It simply postpones their deaths. Virginia Postrel

Simply Well Make Does Deaths Patients

Like Disneyland, luxury retailers have long had to figure out how to overcome customers' natural inertia. Unlike less pricey stores, they tend not to attract idle browsers who make impulse purchases. Virginia Postrel

The intimate contest for self-command never ends, and lifetime happiness requires finding the right balance between present impulses and future well-being. Virginia Postrel

Happiness Future Balance Intimate Finding Lifetime Never Between Well-Being Contest Impulses Ends Requires Right Present Right Balance

We know we need bosses and deadlines to help us get work done. But sometimes we can also use an external push to make us have a good time. In both cases, our future self will appreciate the help. Virginia Postrel

Work Future Time Good Sometimes Will Good Time Our Cases Bosses Both Push Self Know Also Make Deadlines Get Done Us Use Help External Need Appreciate

In mid-July 2007, after a routine mammogram, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As cancer diagnoses go, mine wasn't particularly scary. The affected area was small, and the surgeon seemed to think that a lumpectomy followed by radiation would eradicate the cancerous tissue. Virginia Postrel

As borrowers, we may feel guilty about running up debt, anxious about making payments, and resentful of the constraints that old obligations (and old credit records) impose on our current choices. We may find it too easy to buy things we may later regret. Virginia Postrel

Buy Obligations Regret Old Too Our Later Guilty Running Easy Find About Borrowers Constraints Records Feel Making Impose Up Debt Anxious Current May Choices Payments Resentful Credit Things

Virginia Postrel Quotes

No more Virginia Postrel quotes