“At the core of my work there is this eternal back-and-forth between being confined to one’s own individuality and that longing to be part of the other, the outside world: the impossibility of ever being able to get beneath another person’s skin.”

I like to be flexible in the way I take pictures. I do not use a tripod, and I move around in the crowd, of which I am myself part….

I don’t see myself as a documentary photographer. I am more drawn to the image itself, rather than to the description of a scene. And, anyway, every image only halfway represents reality, whereas the other half is rather, more or less, fulfilling our imagination.

I try to preserve the dynamics of the street, and my way of using the camera tries to approximate as much as possible the way we see: focusing on details, opening up to wider angles, and composing all these very short, fragmented impressions into a larger mental picture.

My work doesn’t speak about individuals (it’s not portraiture in the traditional sense), it tries to speak about life in general in cities of the West – which is where I live and what I understand.

Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed…It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.

You know, our sense of individuality is just the number one target of civilization.

The curiosity of the neighbors about you, is a tribute to your individuality, and you should encourage it

The Pentagon isn’t a place that champions individuality and innovation.

The writer in western civilization has become not a voice of his tribe, but of his individuality. This is a very narrow-minded situation.

What is the use for a man to have at his disposal a large field of action, if within himself he remains confine to the narrow limits of his individuality.

Whoever has recognized the vainglory of individuality will not attach any store (“n’attachera aucun prix à”, Fr.) to fame.

The more a man is successful in getting out (or coming out) from his own individuality, of his egoist self, and to control (or dominate) the instincts of his physical nature.