Henri Cartier-Bresson

“We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory.”

“In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a Leitmotiv.”

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.”

“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”

“For the world is movement, and you cannot be stationary in your attitude toward something that is moving.”

“Photographier : c'est mettre sur la même ligne de mire la tête, l'oeil et le coeur.”

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”

“Photography is simultaneously and instantaneously the recognition of a fact and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that express and signify that fact”

“It is through living that we discover ourselves, at the same time as we discover the world around us.”

“The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality.”

“Für mich besteht die Photographie im gleichzeitigen blitzschnellen Erkennen der inneren Bedeutung der Tatsache einerseits, und auf der anderen Seite des strengen und rückhaltlosen Aufbaus der optisch erfaßbaren Formenwelt, die jede Tatsache zum Ausdruck bringt. Indem wir leben, entdecken wir uns selbst und gleichzeitig die Außenwelt, die auf uns einwirkt, auf die wir aber auch unsererseits einwirken können. Zwischen dieser inneren und äußeren Welt muß ein Gleichgewicht geschaffen werden, die beiden Welten bilden in einem immerwährenden Dialog ein einziges Ganzes, und den Begriff davon müssen wir mitzuteilen suchen.”

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.”

“To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”