18 Quotes by Brassai

Night does not show things, it suggests them. It disturbes and surprises us with its strangeness. It liberates forces within us which are dominated by our reason during the daytime.

My images were surreal simply in the sense that my vision brought out the fantastic dimension of reality. My only aim was to express reality, for there is nothing more surreal than reality itself. If reality fails to fill us with wonder, it is because we have fallen into the habit of seeing it as ordinary.

My ambition was always to show aspects of daily life as if we were seeing them for the first time.

The purpose of art is to raise people to a higher level of awareness than they would otherwise attain on their own.

The wall, safe haven for what is forbidden, gives a voice to all those who would, without it, be condemned to silence.

Beauty is not the purpose of creation, it is its reward. Its appearance, often late in the day, is no more than an indication that the disrupted equilibrium between man and nature has once again been restored by art. Submitted to this test, what remains of contemporary works of art?

Only powerfully conceived images have the ability to penetrate the memory, to stay there, in short to become unforgettable.

To keep from going stale you must forget your professional outlook and rediscover the virginal eye of the amateur.

To me photography must suggest, not insist or explain.