For every five minutes you spend looking into a mirror, spend five times that amount of time looking out at the world. Your happiness has a lot more to do with how you see the world than how the world sees you.
Callie Khouri
Sweet Briar College Commencement 1994, 1994
Die Geschichte hinter diesem Zitat
Khouri addressed body image with characteristic directness: 'I'm still waiting to lose my baby fat. I've waited my whole life to gradually grow into looking exactly like Claudia Schiffer, and I can see now that it's not going to happen.' She acknowledged that every woman in the audience could produce 'a fairly detailed list of your physical imperfections.' But the remedy wasn't self-acceptance through affirmation — it was redirection of attention. 'How you look is not nearly as important as who you are. If you want to learn to make yourself beautiful, do it from the inside out. Do what I did — learn to make it on your personality. Personality is the one quality that doesn't fade with time.' The five-to-one ratio was practical math: for every minute spent on appearance, invest five in engagement with the world.