Artifice Quotes

The sightseers would have been disappointed, as the real thing always makes a poorer show than the fake. ("I'm Dangerous Tonight")

Cornell Woolrich

Above the keyhole the door has a latch. It is pretending to be an authentic old latch. The door is pretending to be an authentic old door. Maybe everything there is isn't authentic any more. Maybe everything there is is a kind of pretending.

Ali Smith

Actually, no. I won't ever go digital. I work with thirty-five or large format. I like the hand-jobs, you know. And I still do most of my own printing. I've developed such a profound distaste for touch-up and modern artifice—comes from snapping too many derelicts and detritus, perhaps, but I love it. Photo bloody Shop can go stuff it. A picture should be honest, even if the subject is contrived on the ground, you know; not dolled-up for advertising punch or sex appeal.

Pansy Schneider-Horst

The outfit, tight in places, and loose in some, says as much in the buttons as it does in cuffs.

Kristen Henderson

Good men's actions are naturalWhile a scoundrel's charityIs carefully planned to please.

Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri