Imelda Marcos

If you know how much you've got, you probably haven't got much.

People say I'm extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage?

They went into my closets looking for skeletons, but thank God all they found were shoes, beautiful shoes.

If you know how rich you are, you are not rich. But me, I am not aware of the extent of my wealth. That's how rich we are.

Doesn't the fight for survival also justify swindle and theft? In self defence, anything goes.

My father always told me never to love anything that cannot love you back.

Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.

If the shoe fits, buy it.

I am beyond logic and rationality.

In the material world, where everything is valued, when you commit yourself to God, beauty and love, it can be mistaken for extravagance.

I hate ugliness. You know I'm allergic to ugliness.

Never dress down for the poor. They won't respect you for it. They want their First Lady to look like a million dollars.

I really had no great love for shoes. I was a working First Lady; I was always in canvas shoes. I did nurture the shoes industry of the Philippines, and so every time there was a shoe fair, I would receive a pair of shoes as a token of gratitude.

The only rich person is a person who is rich in spirit. I have no money deposit. I have only beauty deposit.

It's the rich you can terrorize. The poor have nothing to lose.

I'm like Robin Hood. I rob the rich to make these projects come alive... not really rob. It's done with a smile.

Filipinos don't wallow in what is miserable and ugly. They recycle the bad into things of beauty.

I will come up with a project that will wipe out poverty in the Philippines in two years. I want to remove the people from economic crisis by using the Marcos wealth. Long after I'm gone, people will remember me for building them homes and roads and hospitals and giving them food.

It is shallow people who think beauty is frivolous or excessive. If you are bringing beauty and god, you are enriching the country. Rice feeds the body, books feed the mind, beauty feeds the soul. It is one thing I can really be proud of and stand tall in the world.

They've listed my name in the dictionary - 'Imeldific' is used to mean ostentatious extravagance... But the truth will prevail.