To judge a perfume is, above all else, a matter of taste. Taste evolves under the influence of the environment, but this fact must not prohibit judging the environment. Taste evolves chiefly with the acquisition of learning, with the knowledge of facts and of aesthetic accomplishments, which makes it possible to analyze them and to provoke instructive comparisons. It is thus that each of us can progress along the road of beauty and of art. To deny the usefulness of this training would be like refusing to admit that a symphony is better appreciated after one has studied music.

— Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, in Concerning the Circumstances Favorable to the Creation of an Original Perfume, an article which originally appeared in the April/May 1984 issue of Perfumer & Flavorist. It is available for download in PDF form at Anya's Garden.

I do not think it is the creative capacity that is lacking, or the capacity for understanding on the part of the public (which remains what it has always been). What is in process of petering out is the capacity for starting something. It is really responsible people who are lacking, and it seems that to-day there is no man capable of launching a Chanel No. 5.

— Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska in Where Are We Going?, an English translation of a talk given in November 1967. You can download the paper in PDF form at Anya's Garden.