John Steinbeck

"The camera is one of the most frightening of modern weapons, particularly to people who have been in warfare, who have been bombed and shelled for at the back of a bombing run is invariably a photograph. In the back of ruined towns, and cities, and factories, there is aerial mapping, or spy mapping, usually with a camera. Therefore the camera is a feared instrument, and a man with a camera is suspected and watched wherever he goes... In the minds of most people today the camera is the forerunner of destruction, and it is suspected, and rightly so."

5 likes

Source: John Steinbeck (1990). “Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters”, p.8, Penguin

About the author

John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

Novelist, Journalist

John Steinbeck was an American author known for his poignant depictions of social issues, particularly in works like 'The Grapes of Wrath'.

All quotes by John Steinbeck →

Same author

More quotes by John Steinbeck

See all →
John Steinbeck Novelist, Journalist

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

Read quote
John Steinbeck Novelist, Journalist

"It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."

Read quote