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

Publishing is a business, but journalism never was and is not essentially a business. Nor is it a profession.

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.

The world of the 20th century, if it is to come to life in any viability of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an American century.

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.)

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

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