“...like the emperor striding confidently along without clothes, convinced by them and their inward monitions that their criticism is effecting changes in society.”

“Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old; return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do not want society.”

“It is not always a question of the Emperor having no clothes on. Sometimes it is, 'Is that an Emperor at all?”

“More effectively than any of the other tales, 'The Emperor's New Clothes' established Andersen's reputation as a man who created stories for children — not just in the sense of target audience, but also as beneficiaries of something extraordinary. The lesson embedded in it is so transparent that its title circulates in the form of proverbial wisdom about social hypocrisy. But more importantly, 'The Emperor's New Clothes' romanticizes children by investing them with the courage to challenge authority and to speak truth to power.”

“The clothes have no emperor.”

“While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence, which, I believe, does make the woman.”