Quotes by Charles Moore

I was a product of the Depression. My father struggled to make a living for our family. He worked as a wrestler, a Marion County policeman, and both a car and insurance salesman. During World War II, he worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority's defense plant as a guard.

My brother Jim and I saw our father go into the jails and pray with the inmates Sunday after Sunday. He prayed with both blacks and whites. If we ever repeated any slurs we heard on the playground, he'd tell us very softly, I don't want to hear those words.

My career was 100% different from what I intended to do. I thought I'd photograph nature and landscapes but I wound up photographing the changing of the times.

Pictures can and do make a difference. Strong images of historical events do have an impact on society. They can help with change.

The photographs were never about me. They were always about the people who were laying their lives on the line for basic civil rights. I look back and I can't believe there was ever a time in this country when ANY citizen could not vote. The times were appalling.

There was hostility surrounding doing my job.