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 dwellhomehostile Change image and share on social
Compassion has no place in the natural order of the world which operates on the basis of necessity. Compassion opposes this order and is therefore best thought of as being in some way supernatural. John Berger basiscompassionnatural Change image and share on social
Emigration, forced or chosen, across national frontiers or from village to metropolis, is the quintessential experience of our time. John Berger chooseemigrationexperience Change image and share on social
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 argumentdiversionopposite Change image and share on social
Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion. John Berger commonemotionenvy Change image and share on social
I think I'm very permeable. I can very easily, without even choosing to do it, enter the life of another. Or, to put it in a more modest and accurate way, for that life to enter mine. John Berger accuratechooseeasily Change image and share on social
A line, an area of tone, is not really important because it records what you have seen, but because of what it will lead you on to see. Following up its logic in order to check its accuracy, you find confirmation or denial in the object itself or in your memory of it. John Berger accuracyareacheck share on social
'Fahrenheit 9/11' is astounding. Not so much as a film - although it is cunning and moving - but as an event. John Berger astoundcunningevent Change image and share on social
In drawing after drawing, pastel after pastel, painting after painting, the contours of Degas's dancing figures become, at a certain point, darkly insistent, tangled and dusky. It may be around an elbow, a heel, an armpit, a calf muscle, the nape of a neck. John Berger armpitcalfcontour share on social
Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does. John Berger belongdrawimage share on social