James Agee

“The mere attempt to examine my own confusion would consume volumes.”

“It is a peculiar part of the good photographer's adventure to know where luck is most likely to lie in the stream, to hook it, and to bring it in without unfair play.”

“All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.”

“You've got to be a fool to want to bring a child into the world.”

“How far we all come. How far we all come away from ourselves. So far, so much between, and so close beside.”

“As a whole, an audience is never right. But every individual in it is.”

“In every child who is born, under no matter what circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again.”

“The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The important thing is to profit from your losses.”

“It is of the nature of idea to be communicated: written, spoken, done. The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on crossbreeding, grows better for being stepped on.”