Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.
Taste is more to do with manners than appearances. Taste is both myth and reality; it is not a style.
I had the good fortune of speaking with Orson Wells many decades ago and he said 'Success is primarily luck anyway.' And I have been very lucky. Of course, Orson Wells was enormously talented and brilliant - so who am I to argue with him!