Quotes: W. Eugene Smith

"Negatives are the notebooks, the jottings, the false starts, the whims, the poor drafts, and the good draft-but never the completed version of the work...The print- and a proper one-is the only completed photograph, whether it is specifically shaded for reproductions or the museum wall. Negatives are private, as is my bedroom..."

Writing about his massive Pittsburgh project.

"I would say a great part of my finest work is of participation rather than observation."

He envisioned himself:

"in quest of de-veiling the mysteries"

His objective was:

"symbolization of the universal."