Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. John Berger More Quotes by John Berger More Quotes From John Berger The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter and model: even if the model is a mountain or a shelf of empty medicine bottles. John Berger mountainmedicinesoul The existence of pleasure is the first mystery. The existence of pain has prompted far more philosophical speculation. Pleasure and pain need to be considered together; they are inseparable. Yet the space filled by each is perhaps different. Pleasure, defined as a sense of gratification, is essential for nature John Berger philosophicalpainspace Post-modernism has cut off the present from all futures. The daily media add to this by cutting off the past. Which means that critical opinion is often orphaned in the present. John Berger cuttingmeanpast If everything that existed were continually being photographed, every photograph would become meaningless. John Berger meaninglessphotographifs Whenever the intensity of looking reaches a certain degree, one becomes aware of an equally intense energy coming towards one through the appearance of whatever it is one is scrutinizing. John Berger degreesenergyappearance One can say of language that it is potentially the only human home, the only dwelling place that cannot be hostile to man. John Berger dwelling-placehomemen To be naked is to be oneself. John Berger oneselfnaked Words are so often used in the opposite sense, as a screen of diversion. It's the struggle towards truthfulness which is the same whether one is writing a poem, a novel or an argument. John Berger struggleoppositeswriting History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past John Berger relationpast Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why but the editorialists forget it terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking. John Berger mediapoliticallying Directors like Satyajit Ray, Rossellini, Bresson, Buñuel, Forman, Scorsese, and Spike Lee have used non-professional actors precisely in order that the people we see on the screen may be scarcely more explained than reality itself. Professionals, except fo the greatest, usually play not just the necessary role, but an explanation of the role. John Berger playorderreality 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is astounding. Not so much as a film - although it is cunning and moving - but as an event. John Berger filmeventsmoving [O]ften art has judged the judges, pleaded revenge to the innocent and shown to the future what the past suffered, so that it has never been forgotten. . . . John Berger revengepastart Every city has a sex and age which have nothing to do with demography. John Berger citiesagesex Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast. John Berger communicationpacereflection Hope is a contraband passed from hand to hand and story to story. John Berger storieshands The happiness of being envied is glamour. John Berger reassuranceillusionenvy To remain innocent may also be. to remain ignorant. John Berger innocentignorantmay Your lips, beloved, are like a honeycomb: honey and milk are under the tongue. And the smell of your clothes is like the smell of my home. John Berger smellclotheshome In the modern world, in which thousands of people are dying every hour as a consequence of politics, no writing anywhere can begin to be credible unless it is informed by political awareness and principles. Writers who have neither product utopian trash. John Berger politicalwritingpeople
