Snow blows across a country road in rural Dane County, Wisconsin.

I collect words of wisdom like squirrels collect acorns.  They are little nuggets of wisdom.  I hoard them, save them, and then whip them out from time-to-time to swirl around in my mind not unlike a wine connoisseur does with a taste of Bordeaux in their mouth before swallowing.  Their value, it would seem, is not necessarily in what the words say, but rather what they don’t say.  More to the point, I think about them and wonder what their author was thinking when they penned them.

Here is a list of quotes I have scattered around my desk now.  Some were collected recently; others were collected years ago.  All of them are seen on a regular basis and make me think about their true meaning.  Some are much easier to decipher than others.  All of them, however, are important to me at the moment…until they are replaced with a new crop of quotes later.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” –Albert Einstein

“I have always admired my own work, because I do it so well.” –Julius Shulman

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust

“The best zoom lens is your legs.” –Ernst Haas

“A photograph is neither taken nor seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you.” –Henri Cartier-Bresson

“Creativity without strategy is called art. Creativity with strategy is called advertising. Creativity with strategy and principles is design.” –Jef I. Richards

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” –Ansel Adams

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” –Henri Cartier-Bresson

“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.” –Imogen Cunningham

“I always thought a good photo was like a good joke. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.” –Anonymous

“Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.” –Ansel Adams

“The camera always points both ways. In expressing your subject it also expresses you.” –Freeman Patterson

“Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.” –Chuck Close

“Never underestimate the power of a good story.” –Canal Plus

“Once photography enters your bloodstream, it is like a disease.” –Anonymous