The Perfume Collector Quotes

“There is nothing more difficult than simplicity, and therefore, nothing more refined.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Most people assume that a muse is a creature of perfect beauty, poise and grace. Like the creatures from Greek mythology. They're wrong. In fact, there should be a marked absence of perfection in a muse--a gaping hole between what she is and what she might be. The ideal muse is a woman whose rough edges and contradictions drive you to fill in the blanks of her character. She is the irritant to your creativity. A remarkable possibility, waiting to be formed.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“To me, chance isn't random. The universe is bound by unseen threads. We have only to untangle them a little to see the pattern unfold.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Smells are custodians of memories.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Perfume should tell a story – the story of who you are, who you might be, perhaps even of who you fear becoming . . . all of these things are possible. It’s a very intimate element of a woman, just like her signature or the sound of her voice. And it conveys feelings and states of being that have no name, no language. Its very ambiguity makes it truer than words because, unlike words, it can’t be manipulated or misunderstood.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“I want to go to a café and sit with you. I want you to order something I've never eaten before and tease me about it. And I want to walk, anywhere, nowhere in particular, and for us to disagree.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“When you are older and have swum out into the stream of life, you'll see -- there are no "good" people, little girl. We're all trying and failing, trying too hard and failing too often. Remember that. We shouldn't judge too harshly, in the end, the sins of others"...”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“If you cannot fit into the mould, then you must step out of it,”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“A woman who no longer cares about how she looks has given up on more than fashion – she’s given up on life.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Some of us, no matter how hard we try, aren’t meant to lead ordinary lives. Fate finds us. Gives us a shove.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Perfume should tell a story – the story of who you are, who you might be, perhaps even of who you fear becoming…”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“You see, nothing is more immediate, more complete than the sense of smell. In an instant, it has the power to transport you. Your olfactory sense connects not to the memory itself, but to the emotion you felt when that memory was made. To recreate a scent memory is one of the most challenging, eloquent pursuits possible. It’s poetry, in its most immediate form.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Likewise, while the men and women were no more naturally attractive than their English counterparts, they dressed with an assurance and attention to detail that would have been considered the height of arrogance in England. Here, maintaining a certain chic was apparently nothing less than a civic duty.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Are we at war with fate?”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Life is, after all, a sensual experience. Our senses have the power to truly transport us but also to ground us. Make us human.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“The world is defined by smells – not words or shapes or sounds. This is the language that makes sense, that everyone understands.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Seduction is nothing more than knowing that you want someone and then showing them, very gradually, very deliberately, that you do. It’s the way you do it – reveal, tease, ignore, take it back – that makes it seduction.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“...certain smells were the custodians of memory. And once they were unleashed, their effect was instantaneous, like switching on a light – flooding the senses far too quickly and completely. They had the power to transport and overwhelm. For that reason, one needed to be wary of them.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“In every book she’d ever read, the heroine was subject to self-doubt and unjust criticism. And in every case, it only served to harden their resolve.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“She tore off a piece of baguette; it was both crusty and soft, still warm in the centre. It was amazing how something so simple, so basic could be this delicious.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“She’d always heard that Paris was elegant but had struggled to imagine how. She’d assumed it would be rigid; the demanding intolerance of perfection. But, being here, she was struck by the easy naturalness of everything. From the tall, slender trees, their leaves rustling high above her, to the chalky gravel that crunched beneath her feet or the classically proportioned buildings that rose, uniformly constructed from the same blonde stone, it was all orchestrated to hold the light. The entire city was enveloped in a halo of glowing softness.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“The ideal muse is a woman whose rough edges and contradictions drive you to fill in the blanks of her character. She is the irritant to your creativity. A remarkable possibility, waiting to be formed.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“An uninterrupted view of the Paris skyline was spread out before her, like a giant landscape painting rendered in shades of blue-grey, charcoal and purple-tinted umber; the dreamy palette of shifting shadows at twilight. The blue hour.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Mass was like grand opera, a magic show with the most expensive props in town. And faith, a sleight of hand trick, in which one was both the magician and the audience; the deceiver and the deceived. Still, who could resist a good magic trick?”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“بیشتر مردم گمان می کنند یک الهام بخش، مخلوقی با زیبایی و وقار و ظرافت کامل است، شبیه مخلوقات اسطوره ای یونان، آنها اشتباه می کنند. در حقیقت، باید کمبود قابل ملاحظه ای از کمال در یک الهام بخش وجود داشته باشد؛ یک روزنه ی باز بین چیزی که هست و چیزی که ممکن است باشد. الهام بخش ایدئال، زنی است که نقایص کوچک و تناقضاتش تو را به پر کردن فاصله های خالی شخصیتش بکشانند. او برانگیزاننده ی خلاقیت توست، یک فرصت بی نظیر منتظر شکل گیری است.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“There is nothing more difficult than simplicity,’ Madame”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“This, Mrs Munroe, is the scent of intoxication and desire. The perfume of seduction.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“...I have to have some answers."

"And what if there are no answers?"

She held her ground. "Then at least I will have asked the questions.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“She inhaled again. 'You made it rain,' she said softly, delighted.
'Everyone needs a respite from the sun.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector

“Climbing the steps to the hotel, Grace paused, taking a long look at Paris, in all its shimmering, enigmatic elegance, wearing the nigh as a beautiful woman wears diamonds.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, The Perfume Collector