The visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable.

I realize more and more what it takes to be a really good photographer. You go in over your head, not just up to your neck.

You put your camera around your neck along with putting on your shoes, and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

You know there are moments such as these when time stands still and all you do is hold your breath and hope it will wait for you.

Photographers stop photographing a subject too soon before they have exhausted the possibilities.

You go into a room and you know where you're welcome; you know where you're unwelcome.Sometimes in a hostile situation you stick around because hostility itself is important.The people who are garrulous and wear their heart on their sleeve and tell you everything, that's one kind of person, but the fellow who's hiding behind a tree and hoping you don't see him is the fellow that you'd better find out why.

I many times encountered courage, real courage. Undeniable courage. I've heard it said that that was the highest quality of the human animal. I encountered that many times, in unexpected places. And I have learned to recognize it when I see it.