I want to photograph the considerable ceremonies of our present. I want to gather them, like somebody's grandmother putting up preserves, because they will have been so beautiful.
Diane ArbusRead
I used to think consciousness itself was a virtue, so I tried to keep it all in my head at the same time: past, future, etc.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Consciousness involves awareness of time and experiences, but holding onto everything can be overwhelming.
Diane Arbus reflects on the complexity of consciousness and the struggle of trying to maintain an awareness of all experiences—past and future—simultaneously. This suggests that while being conscious and aware can be perceived as virtuous, the challenge lies in effectively processing and navigating through various thoughts and memories without becoming overwhelmed.
Themes
ConsciousnessVirtueAwarenessPastFuture
In practice
Example use cases
In a mental health workshop to discuss the importance of processing thoughts effectively.
More from Diane Arbus
All quotes →I tend to think of the act of photographing, generally speaking, as an adventure. My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.
Diane ArbusRead
... I must begin at whatever pace is possible, to work on the book of my own that i vaguely keep assuming lies at the end of the rainbow. It is after all my rainbow and if I don't do it no one else will...Survival is the secret so you really can't afford to doubt yourself for long because you are all you've got. The only thing to do is to go the limit with it. Exceed.
Diane ArbusRead
Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed, and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them.
Diane ArbusRead
I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.
Diane ArbusRead
If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life. I mean people are going to say, You're crazy. Plus they're going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. A lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that's a reasonable kind of attention to be paid.
Diane ArbusRead
Similar quotes
And I could weep at how mean people are and how they betray their fellow creatures, perhaps for the sake of personal advantage. It is enough to make a person lose heart sometimes. I often wish I lived on a Robinson Crusoe island.
Sophie SchollRead
Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.
William ShakespeareRead
To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th' observer's sake.
Alexander PopeRead
I regard it (the Constitution) as the work of the purest patriots and wisest statesman that ever existed, aided by the smiles of a benign Providence; it almost appears a "Divine interposition in our behalf... the hand that destroys our Constitution rends our Union asunder forever.
Daniel WebsterRead
The question of the next generation will not be one of how to liberate the masses, but rather, how to make them love their servitude.
Aldous HuxleyRead