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Who really said it

The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly

Written by Coco Chanel 1883–1971 · French couturier, founder of the House of Chanel
Verified In copyright

She wrote it, in French, for “Maximes et Sentences” — a two-page spread of her own aphorisms published under her name in the September 1938 Vogue (Paris): “Les seuls beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement.” The sentence sits on page 56 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France’s scan of that volume, so this is one of the rare Chanel lines with a real address; the familiar English is a translation, and more than one rendering is in circulation.

Last verified 18 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Verified quote & credit

“The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly” Coco Chanel, "Maximes et Sentences," Vogue (Paris), September 1938, p. 56. Original French: "Les seuls beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement." Via Quotle.info

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Condé Nast (Vogue Paris) and the estate of Gabrielle Chanel). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Coco Chanel — French couturier and businesswoman, founder of the House of Chanel. Theme: "The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the sentence actually appears

Work
Maximes et Sentences
Published
Vogue (Paris), September 1938, page 56 — Condé Nast
Original
French — “Les seuls beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement.”
Translation
Modern English; Quote Investigator offers “The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly” as one possible rendering

Les seuls beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement.

The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly. Vogue (Paris), Sept 1938, p. 56

One of the 31 maxims printed under Chanel’s own byline in the September 1938 Vogue (Paris). The English line is a translation of the French above it, not a second thing she wrote — Quote Investigator notes the saying “can be translated into English in different ways.”

Digitised magazine page
See page 56 in the BnF scan of Vogue, 1938
Quote Investigator: the 1938 Vogue citation

How we verified this

  • September 1938 — Vogue (Paris) prints “Maximes et Sentences”, a two-page spread of aphorisms bylined Gabrielle Chanel. The eyes line is among the 31 items, on page 56, per Quote Investigator ↗.
  • The page itself — the Bibliothèque nationale de France’s scan of the 1938 Vogue volume carries the French sentence on the leaf its own metadata labels page 56, and the issue’s contents page lists the Chanel piece at that page: Gallica, ark:/12148/bpt6k936228j, view f746 ↗.
  • 2011 — Linda Simon’s Coco Chanel calls it one of her repeated maxims, in the variant “look at you tenderly”, while Hal Vaughan’s Sleeping With the Enemy says the poet Pierre Reverdy “helped Chanel compile a series of maxims” later published in Vogue — both quoted by QI ↗.
  • 2020 — Quote Investigator publishes the French original and warns that the saying “can be translated into English in different ways”, which is why no single English wording can be called the authentic one: the QI investigation ↗.
In copyright

The maxims were first published in Vogue (Paris) in September 1938 — far too recent for the public domain, and as a French work still protected at home when US copyright relations were restored, the American term runs from that 1938 publication. The English sentence everyone shares is a modern translation of Chanel’s French and carries its own separate rights, so quote it briefly and cite the source.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Real quote, drifting wording

This is the unusual case: a feel-good line pinned to a magnet name that turns out to be genuine. What travels badly is not the credit but the words — and the occasional silent co-author.

“… qui vous regardent avec tendresse” Reworded

Quote Investigator found the line reprinted on one French-quotes listicle with “nous regardent tendrement” swapped for “vous regardent avec tendresse”. It is a smoother French sentence — and it is not the one printed in 1938. QI documents the alteration ↗.

“… look at you tenderly” Translation variant

Because the original is French, every English version is somebody’s translation. Linda Simon’s 2011 biography Coco Chanel renders it “look at you tenderly”; the widely shared “look at us tenderly” is another valid rendering, not a competing quotation. Both are set out by QI ↗.

Pierre Reverdy Shared credit

Hal Vaughan’s Sleeping With the Enemy reports that the poet, Chanel’s former lover and lifelong friend, “helped Chanel compile a series of maxims” that were later published in Vogue. Vaughan does not say Reverdy wrote this sentence, and the Vogue byline is Chanel’s alone — but the maxims may not be a solo performance. Vaughan, quoted by QI ↗.

Sourceless “Coco Chanel” quote lists Unsourced

The line is reprinted endlessly with no citation at all, mixed in with Chanel sayings that have needed separate investigation — several of which Quote Investigator has had to trace one by one. QI’s Chanel file ↗.

The sentence is Chanel’s, and it has an address: one of the 31 maxims she published under her own name on page 56 of Vogue (Paris), September 1938 ↗. Quote the French if you want to be exact; the English is a translation.

Context

A couturier writing aphorisms

Chanel did not only cut cloth. In September 1938 Vogue’s Paris edition gave her two facing pages and let her fill them with 31 short sentences of her own, titled simply “Maximes et Sentences” and listed in the issue’s contents under her full name, Gabrielle Chanel. It is the closest thing she left to a published book of thought — and it is why a handful of Chanel quotations, this one included, can be checked instead of merely believed.

The maxims may not have been written alone. Hal Vaughan’s biography places their composition at La Pausa, Chanel’s villa above the Mediterranean, and says the poet Pierre Reverdy helped her compile them. Reverdy had been her lover in the 1920s and remained close for decades afterwards; whatever he contributed, the byline Vogue printed was hers.

Les seuls beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement.

Read the full story

The translation problem is worth spelling out, because it is what makes this quote look unstable online. The French is fixed: “Les seuls beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement.” Everything in English is downstream of that — “look at us tenderly” and “look at you tenderly” are two attempts at the same sentence, not evidence that Chanel said two different things. “Look at you with tenderness” is not a third: it renders the altered French, not the 1938 line.

The same 1938 spread is the documented origin of other Chanel maxims that circulate on their own, including her line about fashion reflecting its era — which Quote Investigator traced to the identical page and issue. If a Chanel quotation cannot be found in that spread or in a recorded conversation, treat it with suspicion.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Love Kindness

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: The Only Beautiful Eyesquoteinvestigator.com

The anchor investigation — gives the French original, the September 1938 Vogue (Paris) page-56 citation, the Linda Simon and Hal Vaughan variants, and the reworded French it found on a single French-quotes listicle.
Vogue (Paris) 1938, page 56 — BnF scangallica.bnf.fr

The digitised leaf itself. BnF metadata labels this view page 56, and its full text carries "beaux yeux sont ceux qui nous regardent tendrement."
BnF catalogue record for Vogue (Paris)catalogue.bnf.fr

The national library's record for the periodical — Vogue, Condé Nast, Paris, running June 1920 to May 1940 and again from 1945, which is the run the 1938 issue belongs to.
Quote Investigator: all Coco Chanel investigationsquoteinvestigator.com

QI's index of Chanel quotations it has traced, useful for checking the many other lines attached to her name.
QI: "Fashion Is Always a Reflection of the Time"quoteinvestigator.com

Another maxim from the very same source — QI cites the identical September 1938 Vogue page 56 — showing the spread is the documented origin of several Chanel sayings.
Coco Chanelen.wikipedia.org

Biography: born 19 August 1883 in Saumur, died 10 January 1971 in Paris; covers her relationship with the poet Pierre Reverdy.

The author

Who wrote it

Coco Chanel

1883–1971 · French couturier and businesswoman, founder of the House of Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, born in Saumur in 1883 and known from her cabaret years as Coco, built a fashion house on the radical idea that women’s clothes could be comfortable: jersey, the little black dress, the collarless suit, No. 5. She kept company with poets and composers as readily as with dukes, and the poet Pierre Reverdy — once her lover, afterwards a lifelong friend — is credited with helping her shape the aphorisms she published in Vogue. She died in Paris in 1971, at the Ritz, still working.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Gabrielle Chanel, "Maximes et Sentences," Vogue (Paris), September 1938, 56. Digitised by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica, ark:/12148/bpt6k936228j, view f746. English rendering as given in Quote Investigator, "Quote Origin: The Only Beautiful Eyes Are Those That Look At Us Tenderly," 28 December 2020.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The only beautiful eyes are those that look at us tenderly’?” Last verified 18 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-only-beautiful-eyes-are-those-that-look-at-us-tenderly/

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