The very secret of life for me, I believed, was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility.

The sights I have just seen [at Buchenwald] are so unbelievable that I don't think I'll believe them myself until I've seen the photographs.

Photography is a very subtle thing. You must let the camera take you by the hand, as it were, and lead you into your subject.

Life is beating against the school windows. You must quickly open the doors and go out to learn that no door must be locked against you.

To understand another human being you must gain some insight into the conditions which made him what he is.

Even while you're in dead earnest about your work, you must approach it with a feeling of freedom and joy; you must be loose-jointed, like a relaxed athlete.

I like to hide my camera and use a remote control, because then no one knows when I'm actually imprisoning their souls in the visual plane of thought or just sitting there, waiting, and then making time stop. The printed film is like a bell used to symbolize its hour. Except it stands for both that hour's and everything's sudden stopping.