Tom Ford is an American fashion designer, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Here are 20 Tom Ford quotes on balancing style with substance.

Tom Ford is an American fashion designer, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His classic appearances in interviews, consisting of a black suit and crisp white shirt, make Ford look like the ultimate gentleman.

Ford recalls that he was very visual as a young boy. He became interested in art and painting and his parents encouraged him to follow his dream.

Ford rose to fame as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent by reinventing the brands and exponentially increasing the companies’ annual sales. He led Gucci from near bankruptcy to billions.

After he departed from the Gucci group, Ford launched his own “Tom Ford” luxury label in 2006, starting with a line of a cosmetics and fragrance, and continuing with a line of menswear, womenswear, beauty, eyewear, and accessories. The brand was an immediate success.

The designer is also doing quite well in the movie industry. He directed the films A Single Man (2009) and Nocturnal Animals (2016), which were both Oscar-nominated.

Here are 20 Tom Ford Quotes on Balancing Style and Substance

Tom Ford Quotes

I think people who are compelled to achieve never really think they’ve achieved.

I do struggle because I’m attracted to beautiful things, yet at the same time I am actually very aware, in some sense, of their lack of value and that the most important things in life are your connections to other people.

Time and silence are the most luxurious things today.

I probably do have an obsessive personality, but striving for perfection has served me well.

I love to work. If I’m awake I’m working. But working isn’t working for me, working for me is the way I am, it’s just fun.

Good manners is what transforms a man into a gentleman.

You have to love what you do, to the point that you cannot imagine doing anything else with your life. You have to sleep, breath and live this. Otherwise, you really need to get out, now. And that’s not a joke.

I’m a believer in fate and in fulfilling your destiny. I’ve always had a kind of an inner voice that I have learned to listen to.

I thrive on failure.

From the time we’re born until we die, we’re kept busy with artificial stuff that isn’t important.

Glamour is something more than what you put on your body. It has to do with the way you carry yourself and the impact you have on others.

Never, ever, ever wear anything you are uncomfortable in. Because that is what you’ll project: ‘I look like a fool.’ Even if you don’t – you’ll be tentative and not your best.

It’s not about what your friends or partner thinks, it’s about what you feel.

Every day is one less day.

You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.

When you find somebody good, keep them in your life.

A good trick as you get older is to get a thick pair of glasses that have a dark frame. Everything else can droop and slide but that pair of dark glasses stays sharp and crisp.

My real life’s not like the fantasy Tom Ford world – with naked girls pouring perfume everywhere. It’s more staying in and watching Friends on television.

I guess I’m just one of these people who, when I decide I’m going to do something, I just do it.

I’m not totally fearless. I worry constantly and obsess over things, but I just don’t let fear stand in the way of doing something that I really want to do.