List of Henri Cartier-Bresson Quotes

As Photojournalists, We Supply Information To A World That Is Overwhelmed With Preoccupations And Full Of People Who Need The Company Of Images....we Pass Judgement On What We See, And This Involves An Enormous Responsibility.

I Am Neither An Economist Nor A Photographer Of Monuments, And I Am Not Much Of A Journalist Either. What I Am Trying To Do More Than Anything Else Is To Observe Life.

This Recognition, In Real Life, Of A Rhythm Of Surfaces, Lines, And Values Is For Me The Essence Of Photography; Composition Should Be A Constant Of Preoccupation, Being A Simultaneous Coalition - An Organic Coordination Of Visual Elements.

What Do You Think I'm A Professor Of? The Little Finger? (on Offers Of Honorary Doctorates.)

Thinking Should Be Done Beforehand And Afterwards - Never While Actually Taking A Photograph.

The Only Thing Which Completely Was An Amazement To Me And Brought Me To Photography Was The Work Of Munkacsi. When I Saw The Photograph Of Munkacsi Of The Black Kids Running In A Wave, I Couldn't Believe Such A Thing Could Be Caught With The Camera. I Said, 'damn It', I Took My Camera And Went Out Into The Street.

I Suddenly Understood That Photography Can Fix Eternity In A Moment. It Is The Only Photo That Influenced Me. There Is Such Intensity In This Image, Such Spontaneity, Such Joie De Vivre, Such Miraculousness, That Even Today It Still Bowls Me Over.

For Me The Camera Is A Sketch Book, An Instrument Of Intuition And Spontaneity, The Master Of The Instant Which, In Visual Terms, Questions And Decides Simultaneously. It Is By Economy Of Means That One Arrives At Simplicity Of Expression.

I Love Painting. As Far As Photography Is Concerned, I Understand Nothing.

During The Work, You Have To Be Sure That You Haven't Left Any Holes, That You've Captured Everything, Because Afterwards It Will Be Too Late.

A Photographer Is Part Pick-pocket And Part Tightrope Dancer.

I Am A Visual Man. I Watch, Watch, Watch. I Understand Things Through My Eyes.