Norman Mailer

“Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.” – Norman Mailer

Richard Harris

“I often sit back and think, I wish I’d done that, and find out later that I already have.” – Richard Harris

Billie Holiday, 1958

“Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough” – Billie Holiday

(Photographed at the d’Orly airport, Paris, by Jean-Pierre Leloir)

MLK

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thelonious Monk

“I say, play your own way. Don’t play what the public wants. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing. Even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.”                      – Thelonious Monk

The Greatest Words of Muhammad Ali, by Louis Vuitton and Yasiin Bey

Hip-hop emcee, Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), and calligrapher, Niels Shoe Meulman, pay homage to The Greatest, and sport’s greatest showman, Muhammad Ali, in this video for Louis Vuitton’s Core Values campaign. Drawing on Ali’s most famous quotes, Bey adopts the role of storyteller, bard and (literal) ringmaster to glorify the heavyweight champ. The results, directed by Stuart McIntyre, are beautiful. Both visually and lyrically dazzling.

Marlon Brando

“Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent.” – Marlon Brando

Cary Grant

“My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.” – Cary Grant

Adventure May Hurt…

Billie Holiday

“Sometimes it’s worse to win a fight than to lose.” – Billie Holiday