Of necessity, we made the discovery that it is easier to turn poets into business journalists than to turn bookkeepers into writers.

To see life. To see the world. To watch the faces of the poor, and the gestures of the proud. To see strange things. Machines, armies, multitudes, and shadows in the jungle. To see, and to take pleasure in seeing. To see and be instructed. To see and be amazed. (Describing the powers of photography; written for the launch of LIFE Magazine, 1936.)

To see, and to show, is the mission now undertaken by Life.

It's easier to teach a poet how to read a balance sheet than it is to teach an accountant how to write.

Not much longer shall we have time for reading lessons of the past. An inexorable present calls us to the defense of a great future.

There are men who can write poetry, and there are men who can read balance sheets. The men who can read balance sheets cannot write.

Show me a man who claims he is objective and I'll show you a man with illusions.