Sophia Amoruso quotes:

Every woman who has a business book has a platform. For the most part, they're either a television personality or someone who had the perfect pedigree and worked their way up the career ladder.

As a visual person, I love a creative resume. Putting in a little effort on the design side will show that you care about making things look good.

A great mantra to have, whether you're breaking up with your boyfriend or you lose your job, or something changes that you didn't anticipate - which is a fact of life, and very much a fact of running a business - is: 'I was OK before this, I will be OK after this.'

There are a lot of parents who've come to me and said about their daughters, 'Oh my God, she's 21, she's totally flailing. Your story gives me hope.' I put my mom through that.

Work hard, no matter how much recognition you get.

My parents taught me the value of money and working hard. And I kind of got that in me intuitively.

Creativity and business acumen don't always go hand in hand.

My favorite magazine is the 'Harvard Business Review.' If someone sat across from me in a restaurant and didn't know me, that might surprise them.

Success is a scary concept because it assumes something kind of final. In the grand scheme of life, I don't think there is some ultimate success.

Nothing will teach you more about perceived value than taking something with literally no value and selling it in the auction format. It teaches you the beauty and power of presentation, and how you can make magic out of nothing.

You can't convince someone else - whether it's a potential employer, a loan officer at the car dealership, or someone you've been crushing on - that you're amazing and terrific if you don't actually think you are.

Music is such a big part of my life.

If you look at my Instagram, girls are just beating down my door for tips or a job or mentorship. I can't hire every single one of them. My story is one thing that gives them hope. It's an unconventional story with anecdotes, commonsense advice and a big dose of permission to figure things out for yourself.

I learned the hard way that taking shortcuts and living for free is not really living free.

Chaos magic is the idea that a particular set of beliefs serves as an active force in the world. In other words, we choose what and how we believe, and our beliefs are tools that we then use to make things happen... or not.

Getting fired was always a big deal to me. It's a bit like having someone break up with you.

I would say I'm a boss who's learning, and I hope people have the patience for the fact that I'm learning along the way because that's a tough thing.

My entire youth has been Nasty Gal. My entire future is Nasty Gal.

I think many people go to business school and learn ways to play it safe, ensuring that they avoid some of the pain that entrepreneurs endure while taking less calculated risks.

It's important that people are open. Some people say, 'I'm going to be a doctor,' and they're a really good doctor. But for the rest of us, it's a big question mark. Just giving yourself a break, letting yourself try new things, and when something doesn't work out, moving along... it's all we can really do.

The time making money should be greater than the time that you are spending money.

It was easy for me in my bathrobe to provide really great customer service. As an introvert, it's really much easier to do than when standing in a retail store.

I have this arsenal of high-waisted wide-leg '70s pants and overalls. They are more roller-disco than Alexander Wang overalls.

Failure is your invention.

The best wisdom is earned through experience, particularly mistakes.

A big practice in chaos magic is the use of sigils, which are abstract words or symbols you create and embed with your wishes.

Sometimes in the world, there's such pressure to follow a certain path that we forget the importance of learning as we go.

I built a huge profitable business with no debt.

At the bare minimum, you need to be in your position for a year before you ask for a raise or title change.

Lots of people are going to sell clothes online. But not a lot of people have built a brand, a living, breathing brand that people feel like they're part of.

Making small talk about what someone is wearing is just another form of unsolicited feedback.

My philosophy is that you sell things for more than you bought them.

Sometimes the expectation of being inspired in one specific way may close you off to the actual inspiration.

I'm not going to lie - it's insulting to be praised for being a 'woman' with 'no college degree.'

Everyone is told to go to high school and get good grades and go to college and get good grades and then get a job and then get a better job. There's no one really telling a story about how they totally blew it, and they figured it out.

I don't read fashion blogs all that much. I do read magazines, and I trust my friends' opinions, even though we all dress very differently.

My first job was as a sandwich artist at Subway.

You want to know what four words I probably hate the most? 'That's not my job.'

I am still a lover of paper books. One of my first jobs was in a bookstore, and I still like to be able to write in a margin and feel the paper. Once inside of a digital device, I end up losing things.

I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don't ever grow up. Don't become a bore. Don't let The Man get to you.

The modern girl is less concerned with everything being a brand name.

When I go through hundreds of applications from people who all have very similar-sounding experience, cover letters are the only glimpse I have into a person's personality.

When I was 22, I wasn't too proud to do anything. I was taking out trash, buying stinky vintage clothes, and pulling gross Kleenex out of the pockets.

I love clothing and still shop a lot of vintage.

If you knew what you wanted to be when you were 6 years old - great! If you have no idea what you want to be, that's OK!

Everyone does a style book, and I wanted to write a business book for people that didn't think they would like a business book.

I can show up at a Goldman Sachs conference wearing a Judas Priest T-shirt - and I have - while everyone else is wearing the same dress.

The last thing the world needs is another boring person or another boring brand, so embrace all the things that make you different. Alter your clothes all you want, but don't you dare alter your inner freak - she's got your back as much as I do.

No matter where you are in life, you'll save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. The earlier in your life that you can learn that, the easier the rest of it will be.

You are not a special snowflake.

If you believe that you're doing will positive results, it will - even if it's not immediately obvious.

My days of being the tardy employee at the record store gave me a cultural and musical understanding that was more unique than if I'd just listened to garbage-y pop on the radio my entire life.

I can be pretty reactive, and I've learned over time to be less reactive: to stop and think before I make decisions.

A lot of young people who I employ expect a raise after three months or expect not to have to put in more work than what's in their job description.

There's no 'Chutes and Ladders' in life.

I often say my naivete early on in my career worked in my favor.

'Have you ever considered changing the name Nasty Gal?' is probably the dumbest question I've ever heard.

A lot of people in my generation don't seem to get that you have to work your way up. I don't care if filing invoices is beneath you. If you don't do it, who do you think is going to? Your boss? Nope. That's why she hired you.

I didn't buy the Porsche for status. I hate that, and it's actually kind of goofy now because in L.A., a Porsche is like a Honda. It was just that I could pay that much money for a car and drive it off the lot.

A typical day for me involves a lot of meetings.

When you owe money to people, you're always going to owe money to people, so you should take care of it as soon as possible. It doesn't go away just because you ignore it.

It takes a lot more than just knowing how to put an outfit together to succeed in the fashion industry, so more power to you if this is where you want to be; just don't expect it to be an extended trip to the mall.

I'm a capitalist, I'm a CEO, I run a big business, I'm an employer.

I wrote '#GIRLBOSS' while running a $100 million-plus revenue business.

Have you ever considered changing the name Nasty Gal?' is probably the dumbest question I've ever heard.

You can work for other people and still be a #GIRLBOSS; it's more about a state of mind and knowing yourself well enough to know when you're making decisions for yourself or because the world expects them of you. And guess what? It's okay to do that sometimes, too.

A #GIRLBOSS is in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it.

A #GIRLBOSS knows when to throw punches and when to roll with them.

Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back

Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back. Learn to create your own opportunities. Know that there is no finish line; fortune favors action. Race balls-out toward the extraordinary life that you've always dreamed of, or still haven't had time to dream up. And prepare to have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

Clothing is ultimately the suit of armor in which we battle the world.

Compete with yourself, not with others.

Create your own job. Become the master of what you do. Fully imerse yourself in your culter. Be humble. You are never above having to pack boxes. Never forget where you came from. And always be polite. Good old-fashioned manners can get you very far. -Jenne Lomardo

Dive headfirst into things without being too attached to the results

Focus on the positive things in your life and you'll be shocked at how many more positive things start happening

Forcing me to figure out how to provide for myself was probably one of the best things my parents ever did for me.

I believe that there is a silver lining in everything, and once you begin to see it, you'll need sunglasses to combat the glare.

I didn't have weekends for the longest time and it felt so indulgent to finally have weekends.

I guess it has to be healthy, you have to be honest with yourself and I think that's when ego is okay.

I stopped feeling like I didn't belong anywhere, and realized that I actually belonged anywhere I wanted to be.

I think there are times when I can be a good thing.

I wanted to do something really visual and photogenic.

I was OK before this, I will be OK after this.

If you listen only to those around you, the chances of your dreams coming true are very small.

If you're frustrated because you're not getting what you want, stop for a second: Have you actually flat-out asked for it? If you haven't, stop complaining. You can't expect the world to read your mind. You have to put it out there, and sometimes putting it out there is as simple as just saying, "Hey, can I have that?

I'm just always making things that are personal but hopefully also inspiring, and share not just my story, but other people's stories.

I'm not out there picking out every single item that we sell, and also we don't even make every single item that we sell.

I'm telling you that you don't have to choose between smart and sexy. You can have both. You are both.

In my teens I saw the world in only black and white. Now I know that most things exist in a certain gray area. Though it took a while to get here, I now call this gray area home. I once believed that participating in a capitalist economy would be the death of me, but now realize that agonizing over the political implications of every move I make isn't exactly living.

It just means that your talents lie elsewhere, so take the opportunity to seek out what you are good at, and find a place where you can flourish. Once you do, you're going to kill it.

It takes a special kind of stubbornness to succeed as an entrepreneur

It's a huge assortment that we have under our roof and I don't know, it's just managing a taste level and execution of a vision. I think our team does as incredible job at it but it takes incredible leadership and I'm only really a spark for all of that. I'm not out there at every trade show, and so having an amazing team that can keep that vision month after month and keep the assortment consistent is a huge challenge. But something I think we execute every well.

It's cool to be kind. It's cool to be weird. It's cool to be honest and to be secure with yourself.

It's definitely hard, it's hard to get into a Monday, it's much easier to work through a weekend and accomplish a lot, but I don't think that's the healthiest way to live.

It's definitely scary to follow a book that's been turned into a Netflix series and found as much success as Girlboss did.

Its not about being included. It about creating your own space and including yourself and then finding other people that are like okay.

It's really, really eclectic. It's not a business book [Girlboss], but it's still a book that should make you want to get up and do things and think about your life. And for a book that looks that beautiful on a coffee table, I think that's a very special thing. So it's hopefully a new genre I guess, of book. It was so fun to put together and fun to write, that was really a pleasure.

It's the age-old concept of like attracts like, or the law of attraction. You get back what you put out, so you might as well think positively, focus on visualizing what you want instead of getting distracted by what you don't want, and send the universe your good intentions so that it can send them right back.

I've been wondering for a while now if the CEO role is one that I want - and the one that I'm best at.

Just balancing all the different projects, I mean I spent almost 10 years just doing Nasty Gal and I say "just" but that was a lot, and it's still a lot.

Just women who are really eclectic, so every woman from Gwyneth Paltrow to Peggy Nolan, who has half a shaved head and has a totally wild aesthetic. They're woman who are doing things, running their own businesses, taking chances at different levels of success and different industries. A lot of my friends are creatives. It was just who I really adore and wanted to share with a greater audience.

Knowing when to speak up and when to shut up will get you very far not only in business, but in life.

Money looks better in the bank than on your feet.

Our lives are so visual now, with social media and we're constantly shifting gears. Nobody requires a table of contents. Nobody requires that one page leads to the next page, we're okay being surprised by things that are eclectic.

That has been challenging but also such a pleasure to branch out and do different things.

The biggest challenge is people thinking you know everything going on in your company, because you're at the top of it and you started it. But the thing is, nobody knows everything about anything.

The energy you'll expend focusing on someone else's life is better spent working on your own. Just be your own idol.

The last thing I'd ever subscribe to are fashion rules. However, I do think that you should put effort into what you wear. Clothing is ultimately the suit of armor in which we battle the world. When you choose your clothing right, it feels good. And there's nothing shallow about feeling good. Owning your style, however, is much more about your attitude than it is about what's on your back. But don't underestimate the transformational possibilities that getting dressed can afford you.

The only thing I smoke is my competition

The world loves to tell you how difficult things are, and the world's not exaggerating. But difficult doesn't mean impossible, and out of the bajillions of things in this universe that you can't control, what you can control is how hard you try, and if or when to pack it in.

There are secret opportunities hidden inside every failure.

There is no normal. What my job was a few years ago was completely different than what it is today. As soon as I have it dialed in, the company changes and the team changes and my role changes as a result. What the company needs is always evolving, and I don't get to choose what I want to do as much as I thought I would be now - which is OK. It keeps me in this position of learning new things and keeping me humble. There is always something I don't know, and I'm comfortable with that.

There's so many moving pieces, but to be as public as I've become and to be at the front and take the brunt of anything that happens is a huge responsibility, but also something that takes some time to step into and that has been really challenging.

To be an author, and an executive producer, and a host, and I don't even know, I mean I actually have a resume now, which is pretty cool.

Treat your mind like your money, don't waste it.

True success lies in knowing your weaknesses and playing to your strengths

We choose what and how we believe, and our beliefs are tools that we then use to make things happen ... or not.

Well advice people have told me that is that, "If people aren't suing you, you haven't made it," which I don't necessarily believe but with greater success comes greater responsibility and being one of the few female entrepreneurs who I think has been as public as I have been, you're definitely under a spotlight. It's difficult to manage.