Industrial societies turn their citizens into image-junkies; it is the most irresistible form of mental pollution. Poignant longings for beauty, for an end to probing below the surface, for a redemption and celebration of the body of the world. Ultimately, having an experience becomes identical with taking a photograph of it.
Susan SontagThe life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.
Susan SontagSocieties need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to its victims.
Susan SontagMozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Balanchine ballets, et al. donโt redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history.
Susan SontagThe photographer's intentions do not determine the meaning of a photograph, which will have its own career, blown by the whims and loyalties of the diverse communities that have use for it.
Susan SontagOur very sense of situation is now articulated by the camera's interventions. The omnipresence of cameras persuasively suggests that time consists of interesting events, events worth photographing. This, in turn, makes it easy to feel that any event, once underway, and whatever its moral character, should be allowed to complete itself - so that something else can be brought into the world, the photograph.
Susan Sontag