American Quotes

We can't live without taxes, but we sure would like to have good ones.

Rulers do not reduce taxes to be kind. Expediency and greed create high taxation, and normally it takes an impending catastrophe to bring it down.

The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by 500 readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the 500, he reaches the five hundred thousand.

Politics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible. Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought, a rivalry of aim.

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.

Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.

The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance.

Some photographers take reality... and impose the domination of their own thought and spirit. Others come before reality more tenderly and a photograph to them is an instrument of love and revelation.

The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.

Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.

Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.

Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.

Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.

I tried to keep both arts alive, but the camera won. I found that while the camera does not express the soul, perhaps a photograph can!

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.

A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.

Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.

You don't take a photograph, you make it.