Top 60 Imelda Marcos Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If the shoe fits, buy it.”

— Imelda Marcos

2. “People say I’m extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage?”

— Imelda Marcos

3. “The Philippines is where Asia wears a smile. Beautiful products can only be made by happy people.”

— Imelda Marcos

4. “Perception is real, truth is not. I’m not fighting for money and possessions. I’m fighting for something more precious. I pray that as we enter the cyber age – the Age of Transparency – the facts and the truth will out.”

— Imelda Marcos

Featured in: Real Quotes

5. “We practically own everything in the Philippines.”

— Imelda Marcos

6. “They went into my closets looking for skeletons, but thank God, all they found were shoes, beautiful shoes.”

— Imelda Marcos

7. “Ferdinand was a gold trader. He was a lawyer for mining companies. When he entered politics in l949, he had tons and tons of gold. When Bill Gates was a college dropout, Ferdinand already possessed billions of dollars and tons of gold. It wasn’t stolen.”

— Imelda Marcos

8. “The Marcos era was the golden time for the Philippines. We had the lowest crime rate in the world in Manila and real development then. At last, people are starting to understand this.”

— Imelda Marcos

Featured in: Real Quotes

9. “It’s the rich you can terrorize. The poor have nothing to lose.”

— Imelda Marcos

10. “Never dress down for the poor. They won’t respect you for it. They want their First Lady to look like a million dollars.”

— Imelda Marcos

11. “More than life, I value vindication. When you are at peace with the truth and you know that you are on the side of the right and God is on your side, you are not afraid of anything, including jail.”

— Imelda Marcos

12. “I am beyond logic and rationality.”

— Imelda Marcos

13. “I have a different way of thinking. I think synergistically. I’m not linear in thinking, I’m not very logical.”

— Imelda Marcos

14. “I hardly can sleep. I feel that my target now is really to save Mother Earth for humanity. And it’s doable.”

— Imelda Marcos

15. “If you know how much you’ve got, you probably haven’t got much.”

— Imelda Marcos

16. “Filipinos want beauty. I have to look beautiful so that the poor Filipinos will have a star to look at from their slums.”

— Imelda Marcos

17. “I have no weakness for shoes. I wear very simple shoes which are pump shoes. It is not one of my weaknesses.”

— Imelda Marcos

18. “I was no Marie Antoinette. I was not born to nobility, but I had a human right to nobility.”

— Imelda Marcos

19. “My dreams have become puny with the reality my life has become.”

— Imelda Marcos

20. “I really had no great love for shoes. I was a working First Lady; I was always in canvas shoes. I did nurture the shoes industry of the Philippines, and so every time there was a shoe fair, I would receive a pair of shoes as a token of gratitude.”

— Imelda Marcos

21. “The Philippines is a terrible name, coming from Spain. Phillip II was the father of the inquisition, who I believe died of syphilis. It is my great regret that we didn’t change the name of our country.”

— Imelda Marcos

Featured in: Country Quotes

22. “Beauty is not extravagance; beauty is life.”

— Imelda Marcos

23. “What’s wrong with shoes? I collected them because it was like a symbol of thanksgiving and love?”

— Imelda Marcos

24. “My dreams were always small and puny. All I ever needed was a little house with a little picket fence by the sea. Little did I know that I would live in Malacanang Palace for 20 years and visit all the major palaces of mankind. And then also meet ordinary citizens and the leaders of superpowers.”

— Imelda Marcos

25. “I am First Lady by accident. I was not elected by the people but here I am.”

— Imelda Marcos

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

26. “Filipinos don’t wallow in what is miserable and ugly. They recycle the bad into things of beauty.”

— Imelda Marcos

27. “They need a role model. They need a star!”

— Imelda Marcos

28. “I love everybody. One of the great things about me is that I have a very positive attitude.”

— Imelda Marcos

29. “If you know how rich you are, you are not rich. But me, I am not aware of the extent of my wealth. That’s how rich we are.”

— Imelda Marcos

30. “The Philippines is in a strategic position. It is both East and West, right and left, rich and poor. We are neither here nor there.”

— Imelda Marcos

31. “Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.”

— Imelda Marcos

32. “I do not have 3,000 pairs of shoes, I have 1,060.”

— Imelda Marcos

33. “It is shallow people who think beauty is frivolous or excessive. If you are bringing beauty and god, you are enriching the country. Rice feeds the body, books feed the mind, beauty feeds the soul. It is one thing I can really be proud of and stand tall in the world.”

— Imelda Marcos

Featured in: Book Quotes, Country Quotes

34. “My grandchildren are growing up and they could not understand why the Marcoses are still being crucified although we keep on telling them that we did not steal from the Filipino people.”

— Imelda Marcos

35. “You know, not even your British Queen is called just Elizabeth – she’s Elizabeth the Second. There’s only one Imelda.”

— Imelda Marcos

36. “I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty.”

— Imelda Marcos

37. “Doesn’t the fight for survival also justify swindle and theft? In self defence, anything goes.”

— Imelda Marcos

38. “Continuous persecution of widows and orphans is a crime. Even the Bible says there is a specific place in hell for those who oppress widows.”

— Imelda Marcos

39. “I will come up with a project that will wipe out poverty in the Philippines in two years. I want to remove the people from economic crisis by using the Marcos wealth. Long after I’m gone, people will remember me for building them homes and roads and hospitals and giving them food.”

— Imelda Marcos

40. “Life is not a matter of place, things or comfort; rather, it concerns the basic human rights of family, country, justice and human dignity.”

— Imelda Marcos

Featured in: Country Quotes

41. “They call me corrupt, frivolous. I am not at all privileged. Maybe the only privileged thing is my face. And corrupt? God! I would not look like this if I am corrupt. Some ugliness would settle down on my system.”

— Imelda Marcos

42. “I have never been a material girl. My father always told me never to love anything that cannot love you back.”

— Imelda Marcos

43. “God is love. I have loved. Therefore, I will go to heaven.”

— Imelda Marcos

44. “It is terribly important to do certain things, such as wear overembroidered dresses. After all, the mass follows class. Class never follows mass.”

— Imelda Marcos

45. “Why should people be afraid that we use a few small pellets of uranium at the nuclear power plant in Bataan? Don’t they know that we’re surrounded by uranium? We have the world’s fourth largest deposits of uranium. Yes, we’re all radioactive – must be the reason why we have so many faith healers!”

— Imelda Marcos

46. “I get my fingers in all our pies. Before you know it, your little fingers including all your toes are in all the pies.”

— Imelda Marcos

47. “When they see me holding fish, they can see that I am comfortable with kings as well as with paupers.”

— Imelda Marcos

48. “I hate ugliness. You know I’m allergic to ugliness.”

— Imelda Marcos

49. “The problem of the world today is the people talk on and on about democracy, freedom, justice. But I don’t give a damn about democracy if I am worried about survival.”

— Imelda Marcos

50. “I would have to ask the public to choose between a culture of hate or a culture of love. I am sure our poor will pick the latter. With the Marcos assets, we could regain this value of sharing love with one another.”

— Imelda Marcos