Quotes from Sara Blakely

Everything in our society is so purposeful.

I'll mix a lot of things. I'll wear a Temperley dress with flip flops, or I might be in head-to-toe Gucci and have on a ring that I got from a gumball machine for 50 cents.

I grew up in a house where my father encouraged my brother and me to fail. I specifically remember coming home and saying, 'Dad, Dad, I tried out for this or that and I was horrible,' and he would high-five me and say, 'Way to go.'

If we can put a man on the moon, we can make pantyhose comfortable.

Don't be intimidated by what you don't know.

I didn't want women to walk out of the dressing rooms feeling depressed and wanting a cocktail.

I think my story says that, when women are given the chance and the opportunity, that we can achieve a lot. We deliver.

I feel that women have been neglected, unnecessarily neglected and mistreated personally by the fashion industry and shapewear in that entire category was a definite place that we were neglected.

I've always leaned toward a feminine, funky style, even in business settings. I used to paint my nails blue in 1993, before it was mainstream.

I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating.

Shapewear is the canvas and the clothes are the art.

Whatever you can think, you can create; just have a very clear vision... Once you have your snapshot, work on filling in the blanks to get to that place.

I knew that I wanted to start my own business. I knew that I wanted to work for myself. I was no stranger to the word no. You just have to keep going.

I didn't like the way it looked in white trousers, and I couldn't find anything to work underneath them.

My revenue was $4 million my first year in business, off of one $20 item.

Courage is doing something despite the fear, and I've worked hard on being a courageous person.

You've got to embrace what you don't know.

Failure is not the outcome - failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.

Failure to me became not trying versus not succeeding

Failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. This way, it is about answering to yourself.