Quotes from Mireille Guiliano

People are unhappy when they are on diets, because it's 'don't do this, don't do that, do this, do that.'

French women love bread and would never consider a life without carbs.

French women typically think about good things to eat. American women typically worry about bad things to eat.

We women are so judged by the way we dress, and men are not. So style is part of developing your own brand.

I find it so unattractive when women wear sneakers with their business suits. I wear a nice pair of loafers or low-heeled pumps, and that's that.

French women don't have too many clothes - a few good pieces that last for a while and are classic and timeless.

Of course there are fat French women. There are fat people everywhere.

French women eat and serve what's in season, for maximum flavor and value, and know availability does not equal quality.

French women don't eat Wonder Bread.

Being and working in America, it's very important to work hard, work smart and work in a certain way. France and Europe has, with the tradition and culture, it's slow-moving and it's not always good.

You and I don't have the same genetics, we don't live in the same places, but we can have the same basic attitude - being comfortable in our skin.

I've never been ambitious.

Just as established products and brands need updating to stay alive and vibrant, you periodically need to refresh or reinvent yourself.

Any program that your mind interprets as punishment is one your mind is bound to rebel against.

I offer the wisdom of the great American gastronome M.F.K. Fisher, who in The Art of Eating wrote, "No yoga exercise, no meditation in a chapel filled with music will rid you of your blues better than the humble task of making your own bread.

Making choices that are meaningful to you is the essence of the French woman's secret.

If one lives to a grand old age, loss is an accepted part of life. It comes with the territory

Avoid having a very large meal before bedtime.

Many French women (moi included) believe that the right day to cut is on a full moon.

The real reason French women don't get fat is not genetic, but cultural, and if the French subjected themselves to the American extremes of eating and dieting, the obesity problem in France would be much worse than what has struck America.

Don't let a busy life or electronic communication gadgets be your excuse for excess solitude - it's a talent, but a rare one, to make yourself laugh.

If my fellow Americans could adopt even a fraction of the French attitude about food and life (don't worry, you don't have to sign on to the politics, too), managing weight would cease to be a terror, an obsession, and reveal its true nature as part of the art of living.

Developing a program that will serve you a lifetime is not an instant fix. Attitude shifts take much longer, but when they take, they tend to take for good.

Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince is a book all French people know well. It can be read in an hour but is packed with timeless wisdom.