Joseph Cornell Quotes

Shadow boxes become poetic theater or settings wherein are metamorphosed the elements of a childhood pastime. The fragile, shimmering globules become the shimmering but more enduring planets—a connotation of moon and tides—the association of water less subtle, as when driftwood pieces make up a proscenium to set off the dazzling white of sea foam and billowy cloud crystallized in a pipe of fancy.

Life can have significance even if it appears to be a series of failures.

Children understand and remember concepts best when they learn from direct personal experience.

My boxes are life's experiences aesthetically expressed.

Look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first time, with eyes of a child, fresh with wonder.

Shadow boxes become poetic theaters or settings wherein are metamorphosed the element of a childhood pastime.