Gordon Parks Quotes

Quotes about:

• I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.

  Gordon Parks

  Racism, African American, Cameras

  155 Copy quote

• I feel it is the heart, not the eye, that should determine the content of the photograph. What the eye sees is its own. What the heart can perceive is a very different matter.

  Gordon Parks

  Heart, Eye, Different

  Gordon Parks (1975). “Moments without proper names”, Studio

  97 Copy quote

• The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.

  Gordon Parks

  Inspirational, Motivational, Success

  127 Copy quote

• I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty. I could have just as easily picked up a knife or a gun, like many of my childhood friends did... most of whom were murdered or put in prison... but I chose not to go that way. I felt that I could somehow subdue these evils by doing something beautiful that people recognize me by, and thus make a whole different life for myself, which has proved to be so.

  Gordon Parks

  Beautiful, Gun, Knives

  117 Copy quote

• I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty.

  Gordon Parks

  Racism, Choices, Cameras

  78 Copy quote

• The subject matter is so much more important than the photographer.

  Gordon Parks

  Photography, Important, Matter

  56 Copy quote

• Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.

  Gordon Parks

  Life, Acting, Enthusiasm

  97 Copy quote

• Nothing came easy. I was just born with a need to explore every part of my mind. And with long searching and hard work, I became devoted to my restlessness.

  Gordon Parks

  Hard Work, Long, African American

  80 Copy quote

• If you don't have anything to say, your photographs aren't going to say much.

  Gordon Parks

  Photograph, Ifs

  58 Copy quote

• Think in terms of images and words. They can be mighty powerful when they are fitted together properly.

  Gordon Parks

  Powerful, Thinking, Together

  Gordon Parks (2010). “A Choice of Weapons”, p.227, Minnesota Historical Society

  46 Copy quote

• You have a 45mm automatic pistol on your lap, and I have a 35mm camera on my lap, and my weapon is just as powerful as yours. (To Black Panther militant Eldridge Cleaver)

  Gordon Parks

  Photography, Powerful, Gun

  76 Copy quote

• I think most people can do a whole lot more if they just try.

  Gordon Parks

  Thinking, People, Trying

  "Gordon Parks, Lagandary Photographer & Filmmaker Dies At 93". Jet magazine, Volume 109, No. 12, March 27, 2006.

  16 Copy quote

• I suffered first as a child from discrimination, poverty ... So I think it was a natural follow from that that I should use my camera to speak for people who are unable to speak for themselves.

  Gordon Parks

  Photography, Children, Thinking

  33 Copy quote

• Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit. Enthusiasm is natural; it is being alive, taking the initiative, seeing the importance of what you do, giving it dignity and making what you do important to yourself and to others.

  Gordon Parks

  Giving, Important, Alive

  31 Copy quote

• I've known both misery and happiness, lived in so many different skins it is impossible for one skin to claim me. And I have felt like a wayfarer on an alien planet at times - walking, running, wondering about what brought me to this particular place, and why. But once I was here the dreams started moving in, and I went about devouring them as they devoured me.

  Gordon Parks

  Running, Dream, Moving

  44 Copy quote

• At first I wasn't sure that I had the talent, but I did know I had a fear of failure, and that fear compelled me to fight off anything that might abet it.

  Gordon Parks

  Fighting, Abet, Might

  86 Copy quote

• I've been asked if I think there will ever come a time when all people come together. I would like to think there will. All we can do is hope and dream and work toward that end. And that's what I've tried to do all my life.

  Gordon Parks

  Dream, Thinking, People

  34 Copy quote

• You know, the camera is not meant just to show misery. You can show things that you like about the universe, things that you hate about the universe. It's capable of doing both.

  Gordon Parks

  Hate, Cameras, Misery

  37 Copy quote

• The camera could be a very powerful instrument against discrimination, against poverty, against racism.

  Gordon Parks

  Powerful, Racism, Cameras

  50 Copy quote

• And now, I feel at 85, I really feel that I'm just ready to start.

  Gordon Parks

  Mastery, Ready, Feels

  4 Copy quote

• If a man can reach the latter days of his life with his soul intact, he has mastered life.

  Gordon Parks

  Men, Soul, Latter

  24 Copy quote

• Enthusiasm is the electricity of life

  Gordon Parks

  Enthusiasm, Electricity

  9 Copy quote

• I have never known anyone important enough to consume me in anger beyond a few hours. Better to depart their existence before they poison your own.

  Gordon Parks

  Important, Poison, Hours

  30 Copy quote

• I have been born again and again and each time, I have found something to love.

  Gordon Parks

  Born Again, Found, Again And Again

  18 Copy quote

• Photography was my choice of weapons.

  Gordon Parks

  Photography, Choices, Weapons

  17 Copy quote

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