165 Quotes by Henri Cartier-Bresson

If, in making a portrait, you hope to grasp the interior silence of a willing victim, it’s very difficult, but you must somehow position the camera between his shirt and his skin. Whereas with pencil drawing, it is up to the artist to have an interior silence.

Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.

One has to tiptoe lightly and steal up to one’s quarry; you don’t swish the water when you are fishing.

We must respect the atmosphere which surrounds the human being.

Photography is simultaneously and instantaneously the recognition of a fact and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that express and signify that fact.

All I care about these days is painting – photography has never been more than a way into painting, a sort of instant drawing.

If there is one point, it’s humanity, it’s life, the richness of life. The thing is simply to be sensitive.

For me photography is to place head and heart and eye along the same line of sight. It’s a way of life.

During the work, you have to be sure that you haven’t left any holes, that you’ve captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late.