People, unprotected by their roles, become isolated in beauty and intellect and illness and confusion.

I think all art is about control, the encounter between control and uncontrollable.

The pictures have a reality for me that the people don't. It is through the photographs that I know them.

There was no such person as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was an invention of hers. A genius invention that she created, like an author creates a character. She understood photography, and she also understood what makes a great photograph. She related to it as if she were giving a performance. She gave more to the still camera than any actress-any woman- I've ever photographed.

I hate cameras. They interfere, they're always in the way. I wish: if I could work with my eyes alone.

Camera lies all the time. It’s all it does is lie, because when you choose this moment instead of this moment, when you… the moment you’ve made a choice, you’re lying about something larger. Lying is an ugly word. I don’t mean lying. But any artist picks and chooses what they want to paint or write about or say. Photographers are the same.

It's not hard being great occasionally. It's difficult to be good consistently.