Man Ray

I paint what I see, not what others see.

There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it.

I have been accused of being a Surrealist, but I am not. I am a Dadaist. I am an anarchist.

To create is divine, to reproduce is human.

All my life I have been interested in the unusual, the strange, the bizarre, the fantastic.

I photograph what I want to remember, not what I want to forget.

The most beautiful thing in the world is the world itself.

I never knew what I was doing until I did it.

A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.

I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.

The only way to be truly original is to be yourself.

I have always been interested in the relationship between art and life.

The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

I don't photograph reality. I photograph my dreams.

Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.

I am not a photographer, I am a painter who uses a camera.

The only thing that matters in art is the emotion it evokes.

I never repeat myself. I always try to do something new.

The most important thing in art is to be true to yourself.

I am interested in the invisible, the intangible, the unknown.