Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Iman

I'm lucky in some ways in that I really don't need more than five or so hours of sleep.

I'm against a signature look, as that can be very outdating. But having said that, I also know my best qualities, so I'm not going to foolhardily give away my power.

The people who are the most successful in life are not stopped by fear.

I'll be truly happy when we're not counting the number of ethnically diverse models on a fashion runway or campaign, when having a representation of the entire human race is the norm and not an exception.

I started the cosmetics in 1994 after I stopped modeling, out of my frustration as a woman of color not finding what I needed.

Eliminating the things you love is not wellness. Wellness feeds your soul and makes you feel good.

My given name was Zahra, which is the 'flower of the desert.' I don't look anything like the flower of the desert. My name was changed by my grandfather to Iman, which means 'have faith.' And it meant to have faith that a daughter would come.

On a Friday night in 1983, I was in a taxi in New York riding home from dinner with friends. A drunk driver ran a red light and hit the cab, and I was thrown toward the glass partition. I tried to duck, but my face hit the glass, and the impact fractured my cheekbone, my eye socket, my collarbone and several ribs.

I did not want to get involved with a rock star. No way. It is not a sane thing to do.

My ritual is cooking. I find it therapeutic. It comes naturally to me. I can read a recipe and won't have to look at it again.

As I always said: I fell in with David Jones. I did not fall in love with David Bowie.

I suffer from low self-esteem. I had horrible self-esteem growing up. You really have to save yourself because the critic within you will eat you up. It's not the outside world - it's your interior life, that critic within you, that you have to silence.

I vowed to myself when I got married that I would cook every night. I find it very therapeutic.

One afternoon, on my way to the campus - I was majoring in political science at Nairobi University - a photographer by the name of Peter Beard stopped me in the street and asked me if I'd ever been photographed.

I would rather Google other people than Google myself.

The day you settle for less is the day you will get less.

I like to get up around 5:30 or six - that's my favorite time of day. My family is still asleep, and the office is still closed, so I can start my day slowly.

After the bones mended, my left eye was smaller than my right, and my eyebrow never grew back. But you know what? Big deal. I think I became beautiful after the accident. I became kinder, more aware. I gained respect for other people.

When I lived in Egypt, we always wore kaftans. I had cashmere kaftans from Halston. You put on a kaftan in your backyard, and it's like you're in Ibiza.

The difference between rearing a child in your 20s and one in your 50s is one of patience.

I am the face of a refugee. I was once a refugee. I was with my family in exile.

Bowie is just a persona. He's a singer, an entertainer. David Jones is a man I met.

There is a lot of noise out there. I don't want to follow the trend - I want to create the trend.

Intelligence is sexy. Don't play dumb, especially young girls. Don't play dumb. And let people see that you are intelligent.

My father... gave me a positive connection with men because he is a gentleman.

Looking good is a commitment to yourself and to others. Wigs, killer heels, Pilates, even fillers - whatever works for you, honey.

My mother was an activist; so was my father. They came from a generation of young Somalis who were actively involved in getting independence for Somalia in 1960.

There are highlights when you become irreplaceable as a model, like when you become a muse to designers. They look at you differently; you're not a coat hanger for hire.

I believe the universe has great plans for us. When you are young, you don't learn that.

The women I gravitate to are the ones who defy convention and reinvent themselves - hence, they reinvent the world around them.

If I feel frustrated in a situation, I take a deep breath and walk away.

Multicultural markets are nuanced but not alien.

People talk about the miracle of birth. No. There's the miracle of conception. I did IVF, but nothing happened. So I began to think of adoption, and then I got pregnant. It was definitely a miracle.

Modeling gave me so many experiences, like traveling and being exposed to global cultures, but the most valuable lesson has been working with designers who truly are visionaries in their field.

I was born in Somalia, which is in East Africa. My parents started with nothing: poor, poor, poor. They eloped, which was unheard of in my country, when my father was 17 and my mother was 14.

I keep on 5 to 10 pounds above my jeans weight, as the ultimate no-filler-needed refresher, and buy a size up on jeans.

I have a certain manner of speech that is unique to me. I tried once to have my staff tweet for me, and it was a disaster! People knew right away that it wasn't me.

I wasn't a major in political science for nothing, so I understood the politics of beauty and the politics of race when it comes to the fashion industry.

On my 50th birthday in 2005, my discount-wielding AARP card came in the mail. I hurled it in the trash, put on something fabulous, and had a decadent meal. Just the thought of putting it in my wallet felt like a concession.

Granted, I've changed internally as I've gotten older - I take it easy, I know when to stop and take care of myself, I laugh much more and with my belly and soul - but this comes from the confidence and acceptance that comes with maturity.

The truth was I felt ugly growing up. I only really started feeling comfortable in myself when I was 40.

I'm a very political person, and I think things through clearly, even when I was 18 years old.

Mrs. Obama is not a great beauty. But she is so interesting-looking - so bright. That will always take you farther.

Change makes you find your calling, your legacy, and God's divine plan for your life. Don't run from it.

Life is too short not to have pasta, steak, and butter.

My looks have changed. I have laugh lines - not wrinkles.

It's really not a good idea to forecast or double guess the fates; you will always be fooled.

When my daughter Zulekha was born, I was at the pinnacle of my working life as a model, and I pulled myself in two trying to cope with being both a mother and a career girl.

We are very private, so we decided from early on that we will keep the press and editors and everybody out of our house.

I don't do anything by myself. I have a whole crew to get me ready every day.

I didn't start exercising until the end of my modeling career. When you're young, you eat and drink what you want and stay up all night and still look good.

There are some people who have helped to advance me and other girls, but the fashion industry is always behind popular culture. They think they understand the zeitgeist. They don't know anything about the zeitgeist.

I don't look like a white woman. I look Somali.

I have been a muse to Mr. Saint-Laurent, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Versace.

People called me 'Iman the black model'. In my country, we're all black, so nobody called somebody else black. It was foreign to my ears.

Beauty is being comfortable and confident in your own skin.

I believe in glamour. I am in favor of a little vanity. I don't rely on just my genes.

There is no age better than another. The commitment to give of yourself and the knowledge that the time is right are what's important.

At the end of the day, my legacy will not be modelling but my cosmetics line.

I was not considered beautiful at all. Really. And this is what all models say. But I'm still not considered that beautiful in my country. I don't know the beauty ideal where I come from - but it's not me.