The zoo cannot but disappoint. John Berger More Quotes by John Berger More Quotes From John Berger A man's presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you. By contrast, a woman's presence... defines what can and cannot be done to her. John Berger contrast done men As Nelson Mandela has pointed out, boycott is not a principle, it is a tactic depending upon circumstances. A tactic which allows people, as distinct from their elected but often craven governments, to apply a certain pressure on those wielding power in what they, the boycotters, consider to be an unjust or immoral way. John Berger government people way Emigration, forced or chosen, across national frontiers or from village to metropolis, is the quintessential experience of our time. John Berger metropolis emigration village To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself. John Berger oneself naked beauty Publicity is the life of this culture - in so far as without publicity capitalism could not survive - and at the same time publicity is its dream. John Berger publicity dream culture A drawing is an autobiographical record of one's discovery of an event - either seen, remembered or imagined. A 'finished' work is an attempt to construct an event in itself. John Berger drawing events discovery It is not usually possible in a poem or a story to make the relationship between particular and universal fully explicit. Those who try to do so end up writing parables. John Berger stories writing trying Drawing is a way of coming upon the connection between things, just like metaphor in poetry reconnects what has become separated. John Berger connections drawing way It is comparatively easy to achieve a certain unity in a picture by allowing one colour to dominate, or by muting all the colours. Matisse did neither. He clashed his colours together like cymbals and the effect was like a lullaby. John Berger unity artist together The true content of a photograph is invisible, for it derives from a play, not with form, but with time. John Berger invisible photograph play Ever since the Greek tragedies, artists have, from time to time, asked themselves how they might influence ongoing political events. John Berger political greek artist A drawing is essentially a private work, related only to the artist's own needs; a 'finished' statue or canvas is essentially a public, presented work - related far more directly to the demands of communication. John Berger drawing communication artist My heart born naked was swaddled in lullabies. Later alone it wore poems for clothes. Like a shirt I carried on my back the poetry I had read. So I lived for half a century until wordlessly we met. From my shirt on the back of the chair I learn tonight how many years of learning by heart I waited for you. John Berger clothes heart years Landscapes can be deceptive. Sometimes a landscape seems to be less a setting for the life of its inhabitants than a curtain behind which their struggles, achievements and accidents takes place. For those who are behind the curtain, landmarks are no longer only geographic but also biographical and personal John Berger landscape achievement struggle There's the artist's intimacy and truthfulness to himself, but an equal intimacy to the Other [the one drawn]. Picasso drawings are like that... the Rembrandts are like that. The artist who most often did that was Van Gogh. John Berger intimacy drawing artist A photograph is a meeting place where the interests of the photographer, the photographed, the viewer and those who are using the photograph are often contradictory. These contradictions both hide and increase the natural ambiguity of the photographic image. John Berger contradiction photographer natural Ours is the century of enforced travel of disappearances. The century of people helplessly seeing others, who were close to them, disappear over the horizon. John Berger horizon people travel A cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis. The time of a cigarette is a parenthesis, and if it is shared, you are both in that parenthesis. Its like a proscenium arch for a dialogue. John Berger arches breathing-space cigarette Without ethics man has no future. This is to say mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities. John Berger priorities choices men The zoo cannot but disappoint. The public purpose of zoos is to offer visitors the opportunity of looking at animals. Yet nowherein a zoo can a stranger encounter the look of an animal. At the most, the animal's gaze flickers and passes on. They look sideways. They look blindly beyond. John Berger opportunity animal zoos
