If I’d had the nerve, I’d have become a thief or a gangster, but since I didn’t, I became a photographer.
MAN RAYIf the affairs of the world were put in the hands of the screwball artists, it couldn’t be in a worse state than it is now !
More Man Ray Quotes
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Just as I work with paints, brushes, and canvas, I work with the light, pieces of glass and chemistry.
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Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.
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My works were designed to amuse, annoy, bewilder, mystify and inspire reflection.
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In the same spirit, when the automobile arrived, there were those that declared the horse to be the most perfect form of locomotion.
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Speaking of nudes, I have always had a great fondness for this subject, both in my paintings and in my photos, and I must admit, not for purely artistic reasons.
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The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.
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Lipstick is the red badge of courage.
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I am not going to be dictated to by the size of the camera. I use everything from an 8 x 10 to a 35-mm. But I don’t use these modern cameras which break down all the time !
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One of the satisfactions of a genius is his will-power and obstinacy.
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Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.
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If the affairs of the world were put in the hands of the screwball artists, it couldn’t be in a worse state than it is now !
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I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.
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I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.
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I am an economic person; I judge the amount of work involved with the amount of worth attained.
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It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them.
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A certain amount of contempt for the material employed to express an idea is indispensable to the purest realization of this idea.
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Is photography an art? There is no point in trying to find out if it is an art. Art is old-fashioned. We need something else.
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If the affairs of the world were put in the hands of the screwball artists, it couldn’t be in a worse state than it is now !
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An effort impelled by desire must also have an automatic or subconscious energy to aid its realization.
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An original is a creation motivated by desire.
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I paint when I cannot photograph.
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Reality is fabricated out of desire.
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To create is divine, to reproduce is human.
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A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.
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Oh, yes, I was a great retoucher. A retoucher is an esthetic surgeon !
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Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.
MAN RAY