Margaret Bourke-White Quotes

“The beauty of the past belongs to the past.”

“If you banish fear nothing terribly bad can happen to you.”

“To understand another human being you must gain some insight into the conditions which made him what he is.”

“I was to discover that the quest for human understanding is a lifetime one that has no end in sight.”

“The very secret of life for me, I believed, was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility.”

“Sir, — Whether women are the equals of men has been endlessly debated; whether they have souls has been a moot point; but can it be too much to ask [for a definitive acknowledgement that at least they are animals?… Many hon. members may object to the proposed Bill enacting that, in statutes respecting the suffrage, 'wherever words occur which import the masculine gender they shall be held to include women;' but could any object to the insertion of a clause in another Act that 'whenever the word "animal" occur it shall be held to include women?' Suffer me, thorough your columns, to appeal to our 650 [parliamentary] representatives, and ask — Is there not one among you then who will introduce such a motion? There would then be at least an equal interdict on wanton barbarity to cat, dog, or woman… Yours respectfully, AN EARNEST ENGLISHWOMAN”

“I is Jovial. I is Optimistic. I is Antsy. I is Noteworthy. I is Nervy. I is Ambitious.But altogether ME is JOANNA.WHO ARE YOU ALTOGETHER????”

“I wasn't born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilightNo I was all horns and thorns sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright.”

“Minority art, vernacular art, is marginal art. Only on the margins does growth occur.”

“(Only God can make a tree and She seldom tries, nowadays.)”