I'll do what little I can in writing. Only it will be very little. I'm not capable of it; and if I were, you would not go near it at all. For if you did, you would hardly bear to live

The goal is the same: life itself; and the price is the same; life itself.

The mere attempt to examine my own confusion would consume volumes.

You must be in tune with the times and prepared to break with tradition.

The artist's task is not to alter the world as the eye sees it into a world of aesthetic reality, but to perceive the aesthetic reality within the actual reality. (On photographs by Helen Levitt)

Isn’t every human being both a scientist and an artist; and in writing of human experience, isn’t there a good deal to be said for recognizing that fact and for using both methods?

Some people get where they hope to in this world. Most of us don't.

You've got to bear it in mind that nobody that ever lived is specially privileged; the axe can fall at any moment, on any neck, without any warning or any regard for justice.

I'm very anxious not to fall into archaism or 'literary' diction. I want my vocabulary to have a very large range, but the words must be alive.

A mother never realizes that her children are no longer children.

The camera seems to me, next to unassisted and weaponless consciousness, the central instrument of our time.

may this poetrybe the homeyou will someday come back to.

Sorrow is what I feel for people who aren’t doing what they love. I keep my distance from them as though they’re contagious. They are, I believe.

Setting a good example for children takes all the fun out of middle age.

Fear is always with us, but we just don't have time for it. Not Now!

We must demand more not from each other, but more from ourselves

Mr. President, no one is saying you broke any laws, we're just saying it's a little bit weird you didn't have to.

If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek.

Whatever God's Word says I am - that's what I am! Whatever His Word says I can do - with His help I can do! Whatever His Word says He will do - He will do!

O fool, what else is sleep but chill death's likeness?

The easiest thing in the world for me is to pay attention.