Diane Arbus quotes

Diane Arbus was an influential American photographer renowned for her striking portraits of marginalized and unconventional subjects. Her provocative images often challenged traditional notions of beauty and normalcy in mid-20th-century America. She remains a pioneer in documentary and portrait photography, inspiring generations of artists. Here are 28 of her quotes:

My favourite thing is to go where I've never been.

Diane Arbus

Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.

Diane Arbus

The thing that's important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way.

Diane Arbus

I mean, if you've ever spoken to someone with two heads, you know they know something you don't.

Diane Arbus

I mean, it's very subtle and a little embarrassing to me, but I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them.

Diane Arbus

I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them.

Diane Arbus

I tend to think of the act of photographing, generally speaking, as an adventure. My favorite thing is to go where I've never been.

Diane Arbus

For me, the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture.

Diane Arbus

If you scrutinize reality closely enough, if in some way you really, really get to it, it becomes fantastic.

Diane Arbus

One of the risks of appearing in public is the likelihood of being photographed.

Diane Arbus

What I'm trying to describe is that it's impossible to get out of your skin into somebody else's.... That somebody else's tragedy is not the same as your own.

Diane Arbus

One thing that struck me early is that you don't put into a photograph what's going to come out. Or, vice versa, what comes out is not what you put in.

Diane Arbus

Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.

Diane Arbus

I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.

Diane Arbus

There's a quality of legend about freaks. Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle. Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.

Diane Arbus

Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.

Diane Arbus

I never have taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse.

Diane Arbus

Nothing is ever the same as they said it was.

Diane Arbus

The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.

Diane Arbus

You see someone on the street, and essentially what you notice about them is the flaw.

Diane Arbus

I think it does, a little, hurt to be photographed.

Diane Arbus

Every Difference is a Likeness too.

Diane Arbus