75 First Impression Quotes

We usually tend to make initial judgments about any new acquaintance we meet based on just a few observations.

We are always told to make a great first impression because that's the one that sticks. But, can you really make an eternal judgment of a person based on just a few moments of interaction?

It's true that we get only one chance to make a first impression, but if we are looking to create lasting relationships, should people really stick to their first impression of the other party? What do you think? Read on to learn some quotes about first impressions.

Famous Quotes About First Impressions

You may have heard these quotes on the importance of first impressions before.

“Two things remain irretrievable: time and a first impression.”

- Cynthia Ozick

“It is sometimes difficult to get rid of first impressions.”

- Sherrilyn Kenyon

"I understand how a first impression is often just that: a quick snapshot that, on its merit, is meaningless."

- Adriana Trigiani

"When you see a person, do you just concentrate on their looks? It's just a first impression. Then there's someone who doesn't catch your eye immediately, but you talk to them, and they become the most beautiful thing in the world."

- Brad Pitt

“First impressions matter. Experts say we size up new people in somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.”

- Elliott Abrams

"Whenever we have something that we are good at-something we care about-that experience and passion fundamentally change the nature of our first impressions."

- Malcolm Gladwell

"The first impression is always the right one. I rarely change my mind upward about people."

- Hunter S. Thompson

"First impressions are often signals from the deep that we should credit oftener than we do …"

- Katherine Anne Porter

"Everything I do in my life is very instinctual and in the moment. If I'm attracted to something, that's it. If I have reservations, those don't change till they're resolved. My first impression is how I go."

- Andy Garcia

"The mind is like a sheet of white paper in this, that the impressions it receives the oftenest, and retains the longest, are black ones."

- Julius Charles Hare

"First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not infrequently) to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions.

A man’s look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily."

- William Hazlitt

"For me it's always about first impressions. I trust my instincts. I love to prepare if it's something that requires training. But I don't like to prepare the psychology too much. I enjoy the psychology of the character but I work better from a first impression."

- Billy Zane

"Life is a first impression. You get one shot at it. Make it everlasting."

- J.R. Rim

"We sometimes try to impress people we just met by not trying to impress them."

- Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"It sounds cliche, but if someone is willing to be themselves and not try too hard to someone they're not - that sticks. That is what makes an amazing first impression."

- Nick Viall

"It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

"When I write notes in my journal, I'm just trying to scribble down as much as possible. Later on, I decide whether to follow some of those first impressions or whether to abandon them."

- Natasha Trethewey

"We don’t know where our first impressions come from or precisely what they mean, so we don’t always appreciate their fragility."

- Malcolm Gladwell

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

- Will Rogers

"First impression is unfair, because a first impression of somebody is guarded, and you don’t know the person."

- Frank Oz

"In difficult circumstances always act on first impressions."

- Leo Tolstoy

"If you want to make a good first impression, smile at people. What does it cost to smile? Nothing. What does it cost not to smile? Everything, if not smiling prevents you from enchanting people."

- Guy Kawasaki

"You only have one first chance to make one first impression that lasts a lifetime."

- Nas

"Almost everyone will make a good first impression, but only a few will make a good lasting impression."

- Sonya Parker

First Impression Quotes For Work And Business

Here are some off-beat first impression quotes that are amusing to read.

"Go out of your way to make an outstanding first impression."

- Robert Cheeke

"The strangest part about being famous is you don’t get to give first impressions anymore. Everyone already has an impression of you before you meet them."

- Kristen Stewart

"I perceived that to express those impressions, to write that essential book, which is the only true one, a great writer does not, in the current meaning of the word, invent it, but, since it exists already in each one of us, interprets it. The duty and the task of a writer are those of an interpreter."

- Marcel Proust

"Nothing is as exciting - or as nerve-wracking - as being the new girl. Whether it's your first day of school or you're starting a dream job, if there's one thing that makes a first impression a lot less daunting, it's a really, really good hair day."

- Elaine Welteroth

"Never forget that you only have one opportunity to make a first impression - with investors, with customers, with PR, and with marketing."

- Natalie Massenet

"Appearances make impressions but it is the personality that makes an impact."

- Yuzvendra Chahal

"There's no first impressions anymore. You go to a job interview, and they'll probably Google you. It's a shame - people should play it a little closer to the chest as far as what information they release to the world. If I'm angry about something, I'm not going to take to my Twitter."

- Patrick Stump

"You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and yours may be in the hands of the receptionist."

- Harvey Mackay

"A firm, hearty handshake gives a good first impression, and you’ll never be forgiven if you don’t live up to it."

- P. J. O’Rourke

"A good first impression can work wonders."

- J. K. Rowling

Amusing First Impression Quotes

Here are some Amusing first impression quotes for you!

"My theory about meeting people is that it’s better not to make a really good first impression. Because it’s all downhill from there. You’re always having to live up to that first impression, which was just an illusion."

- Lisa Kleypas

"When you first hear Mozart's music, your first impression is that it's very alive, but if you peel away the layers, you can hear sorrow and sadness behind it, and that's what I try to be: multi-layered."

- Park Chan-wook

"Good impressions travel fast, bad ones travel even faster!"

- Unknown

"First impressions are whack because depending on how comfortable I was when I met them there are people out there who actually think I’m shy & others who are like she has never shut up a single second in her life."

- Ellie Schnitt

"In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still."

- Criss Jami

" First impressions are very important, so make sure to be weird right away."

- Unknown

"You make a first impression and people never forget it. If people want to think of me as the wacky ‘Juno’ lady forever, I could think of worse ways to be labeled."

- Diablo Cody

"I influence anybody who is able to get through the chaos of my first impression."

- Gary Vaynerchuk

"You know who makes a great first impression? Liars."

- Daniel Tosh

"It’s important to make a great first impression, so make sure to hold on to your damn weave.”

- RuPaul

First Impression Quotes To Ponder Upon

You will need to take a moment and think about these quotes- they have quite deep meanings.

"Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent."

- Dalai Lama

"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken."

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

"First impressions are often signals from the deep that we should credit oftener than we do."

- Katherine Anne Porter

"From the very first instances of perception, some things are grateful and others unwelcome to us; some things we incline to, and others we fly."

- Locke

"It's pretty simple, pretty obvious: that people's first impressions of people are really a big mistake."

- Vincent D'Onofrio

"A stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight. But surely it was an invitation to consider the matter."

- Lois McMaster Bujold

"First impression is not the last reflection of a true friend, so if you are head over heels for someone who just bought you a cake, you'd better think twice before devouring your misery."

- Michael Bassey Johnson

"Your initial opinion on just about anything may change over time."

– Daniel Handler

"Memory in youth is active and easily impressible; in old age it is comparatively callous to new impressions, but still retains vividly those of earlier years."

-Charlotte Bronte

"We must learn and then teach our children that niceness does not equal goodness. Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait. People seeking to control others almost always present the image of a nice person in the beginning."

- Gavin de Becker

"What can a first impression tell us about anyone? Why, no more than a chord can tell us about Beethoven, or a brushstroke about Botticelli."

- Amor Towles

"You could be in a room with somebody you don't realize you're in a room with and that first impression or something that you give off might be appreciated by someone or it might not. I'm always just being mindful of you never know who's watching."

- Chase Elliott

"People are more than their first impressions. And even if someone seems like a lot, or seems this way or that way, it doesn't mean they're not a three-dimensional person, with a real life."

- Mary Wiseman

"If people are failing, they look inept. If people are succeeding, they look strong and good and competent. That's the 'halo effect'. Your first impression of a thing sets up your subsequent beliefs. If the company looks inept to you, you may assume everything else they do is inept."

- Daniel Kahneman

"Each of us is full of too many wheels, screws and valves to permit us to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external signs."

- Anton Chekhov