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When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.

— Ansel Adams Disputed

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Silence

More quotes by Ansel Adams

A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.

A Personal Credo (1943)

The herculean task of a photographer is to capture a momentary frame as beautiful in reality, as it would be in a dream.

No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied — it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.

Ansel Adams: An Autobiography (1985)

The only things in my life that compatibly exist with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.

Ansel Adams: An Autobiography (1985)

If what I see in my mind excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph.

All Ansel Adams quotes →

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To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox New Thought Pastels (1913)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

George Eliot

There are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.

Benedict of Nursia

I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?

Federico Fellini I'm a Born Liar (2003)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ansel Adams (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.