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.)

Time should make enemies and Life should make friends.

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

I am all for titillating trivialities. I am all for the epic touch. I could almost say that everything in Time, should be either titillating or epic or starkly, supercurtly factual.

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.

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

I suggest that what we want to do is not to leave to posterity a great institution, but to leave behind a great tradition of journalism ably practiced in our time.