I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.
Man RayRead
I like contradictions. We have never attained the infinite variety and contradictions that exist in nature. Tomorrow I shall contradict myself. That is the one way I have of asserting my liberty, the real liberty one does not find as a member of society.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embracing contradictions is a way to assert one's freedom from societal norms.
This quote by Man Ray emphasizes the beauty of contradictions and the complexity of nature, suggesting that true liberty involves the acceptance of conflicting ideas. By acknowledging that one may contradict themselves, it reflects a deep understanding of personal freedom, separate from societal expectations and limitations.
Themes
ContradictionFreedomLibertyNatureSociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophical discussion on freedom, I might say, 'As Man Ray put it, I like contradictions.'
More from Man Ray
All quotes →I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.
Man RayRead
l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.
Man RayRead
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 RayRead
Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.
Man RayRead
Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.
Man RayRead
Similar quotes
We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.
Barack ObamaRead
To claim that theft or adultery or lying are "evil" simply reflects our degraded idea of good-—that it has something to do with respect for property, respectability, and sincerity.
Simone WeilRead
We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old. This seems to be close to the heart of that mystery. I know no more now than I ever did about the far side of death as the last letting-go of all, but now I know that I do not need to know, and that I do not need to be afraid of not knowing. God knows. That is all that matters.
Frederick BuechnerRead
If we go on to cast a look at the fate of these World-Historical persons, whose vocation it was to be the agents of the World-Spirit, we shall find it to have been no happy one. They attained no calm enjoyment; their whole life was labour and trouble; their whole nature was nought else but their master—passion. When their object is attained they fall off like empty hulls from the kernel. They die early, like Alexander; they are murdered, like Caesar.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich HegelRead
We must respect the interior laws of creation, of this Earth, to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive.
Pope Benedict XviRead
To take wine into your mouth is to savor a droplet of the river of human history.
Clifton FadimanRead