History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past
John BergerThe publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product.
John BergerThe animal has secrets which, unlike the secrets of caves, mountains, seas are specifically addressed to man.
John BergerA cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis. The time of a cigarette is a parenthesis, and if it is shared, you are both in that parenthesis. Its like a proscenium arch for a dialogue.
John BergerThe impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter and model: even if the model is a mountain or a shelf of empty medicine bottles.
John BergerWhen he painted a road, the roadmakers were there in his imagination, when he painted the turned earth of a ploughed field, the gesture of the blade turning the earth was included in his own act. Whenever he looked he saw the labour of existence; and this labour, recognised as such, was what constituted reality for him. (On Vincent Van Gogh)
John Berger