I suffered first as a child from discrimination, poverty ... So I think it was a natural follow from that that I should use my camera to speak for people who are unable to speak for themselves.

But I do feel a little teeny right now that I'm just about ready to start, and winter is entering. Half past autumn has arrived.

I'd become sort of involved in things that were happening to people. No matter what color they be, whether they be Indians, or Negroes, the poor white person or anyone who was I thought more or less getting a bad shake.

I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty.

I have never known anyone important enough to consume me in anger beyond a few hours. Better to depart their existence before they poison your own.

Success can be wracking and reproachful, to you and those close to you. It can entangle you with legends that are consuming and all but impossible to live up to.

Washington, D.C. in 1942 was not the easiest place in the world for a Negro to get along.