--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Photography is the very conscience of…" description: "\"Photography is the very conscience of painting. It constantly reminds the later of what it must not do.\" — Brassai" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg" --- # Photography is the very conscience of painting. It… ![“Photography is the very conscience of painting. It constantly reminds the later of what it must not do.” quote by Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg) > “Photography is the very conscience of painting. It constantly reminds the later of what it must not do.” [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photography reminds painters not to over‑detail, preserving artistic essence. **In simple terms:** Photography teaches painters restraint. Key Takeaway Use photography as a guide, not a crutch. Themes artistic restraint medium interplay creative discipline Mood contemplative critical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - painting - photography - visual storytelling Key Concepts visual arts painting philosophy cross‑media influence Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance reference with originality? - When does photography enhance art? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on reference can limit imagination. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) ## Related quotes > [I am never in a hurry to reach details. First and above all I am interested in the large masses and the general character…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-camille-corot/i-am-never-in-a-hurry-to-reach-details-first-and-above-all-i-am/) [Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-camille-corot/) > [Painting constantly appeared to me as the one and only possible achievement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-beckmann/painting-constantly-appeared-to-me-as-the-one-and-only-possible/) [Max Beckmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-beckmann/) > [I've worked with people who are much further to the left than I am and much further to the right than I am. At…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hanks/i-ve-worked-with-people-who-are-much-further-to-the-left-than-i-am/) [Tom Hanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hanks/) > [In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-edensor-littlewood/in-presenting-a-mathematical-argument-the-great-thing-is-to-give-the/) [John Edensor Littlewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-edensor-littlewood/) > [Never can true courage dwell with them, Who, playing tricks with conscience, dare not look At their own vices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/never-can-true-courage-dwell-with-them-who-playing-tricks-with/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Being tolerant does not mean that I share another ones belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another ones right to believe, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-frankl/being-tolerant-does-not-mean-that-i-share-another-ones-belief-but-it/) [Viktor Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-frankl/) > [My morals are important to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hunter-parrish/my-morals-are-important-to-me/) [Hunter Parrish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hunter-parrish/) > [The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hand one day a book of Martin Luthers; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bunyan/the-god-in-whose-hands-are-all-our-days-and-ways-did-cast-into-my/) [John Bunyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bunyan/) > [“If we cannot be happy and powerful and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/if-we-cannot-be-happy-and-powerful-and-prey-on-others-we-invent/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [Making money doesn't oblige people to forfeit their honor or their conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-rothschild/making-money-doesn-t-oblige-people-to-forfeit-their-honor-or-their/) [Guy de Rothschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-de-rothschild/) > [Let us be thankful for health and competence, and, above all, for a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/izaak-walton/let-us-be-thankful-for-health-and-competence-and-above-all-for-a/) [Izaak Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/izaak-walton/) > [My conscience is really active. So I feel bad about spending excess amount of money on things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syd/my-conscience-is-really-active-so-i-feel-bad-about-spending-excess/) [Syd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syd/) > [Writing adds up to the conscience of our times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-firrell/writing-adds-up-to-the-conscience-of-our-times/) [Martin Firrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-firrell/) > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) Rabelaise > [Self-respect and a clear conscience are powerful components of integrity and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-waitley/self-respect-and-a-clear-conscience-are-powerful-components-of/) [Denis Waitley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-waitley/) ## More by Brassai > [Photography in our time leaves us with a grave responsibility. While we are playing in our studios with broken flowerpots, oranges, nude studies and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/photography-in-our-time-leaves-us-with-a-grave-responsibility-while/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [My images were surreal simply in the sense that my vision brought out the fantastic dimension of reality. My only aim was to express…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/my-images-were-surreal-simply-in-the-sense-that-my-vision-brought-out/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [It is not sociologists who provide insights but photographers of our sort who are observers at the very center of their times. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/it-is-not-sociologists-who-provide-insights-but-photographers-of-our/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [What attracts the photographer is precisely the chance to penetrate inside phenomena, to uncover forms... He pursues them into their last refuges and surprises…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/what-attracts-the-photographer-is-precisely-the-chance-to-penetrate/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [Beauty is not the purpose of creation, it is its reward. Its appearance, often late in the day, is no more than an indication…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/beauty-is-not-the-purpose-of-creation-it-is-its-reward-its-appearance/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [“There are two gifts which every man of images needs to be a true creator: a certain sensitivity to life, to living things, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/there-are-two-gifts-which-every-man-of-images-needs-to-be-a-true/) [Brassaï](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [After twenty years you can begin to be sure of what camera will do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/after-twenty-years-you-can-begin-to-be-sure-of-what-camera-will-do/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [To keep from going stale you must forget your professional outlook and rediscover the virginal eye of the amateur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/to-keep-from-going-stale-you-must-forget-your-professional-outlook/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [“I've always felt that the formal structure of a photo, its composition, was just as important as tje subject itself... You have to eliminate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/i-ve-always-felt-that-the-formal-structure-of-a-photo-its-composition/) [Brassaï](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [A poor photographer meets chance one out of a hundred times and a good photographer meets chance all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/a-poor-photographer-meets-chance-one-out-of-a-hundred-times-and-a/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [The precise instant of creation is when you choose the subject. (meaning that the essential thing occurs at the moment when he, the photographer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/the-precise-instant-of-creation-is-when-you-choose-the-subject/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [If you take your inspiration from nature, you don't invent anything, because what you want to do is to interpret something. But still, everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/if-you-take-your-inspiration-from-nature-you-don-t-invent-anything/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [I think education and intelligence (are) important, but not art. Not artistic education...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/i-think-education-and-intelligence-are-important-but-not-art-not/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [In the absence of a subject with which you are passionately involved, and without the excitement that drives you to grasp it and exhaust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/in-the-absence-of-a-subject-with-which-you-are-passionately-involved/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) > [I don't invent anything. I imagine everything... most of the time, I have drawn my images from the daily life around me. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/i-don-t-invent-anything-i-imagine-everything-most-of-the-time-i-have/) [Brassai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) [Explore all 27 Brassai quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/) ## More Conscience quotes > [Self-respect and a clear conscience are powerful components of integrity and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-waitley/self-respect-and-a-clear-conscience-are-powerful-components-of/) [Denis Waitley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-waitley/) > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) Rabelaise > [Writing adds up to the conscience of our times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-firrell/writing-adds-up-to-the-conscience-of-our-times/) [Martin Firrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-firrell/) > [My conscience is really active. So I feel bad about spending excess amount of money on things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syd/my-conscience-is-really-active-so-i-feel-bad-about-spending-excess/) [Syd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syd/) > [Let us be thankful for health and competence, and, above all, for a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/izaak-walton/let-us-be-thankful-for-health-and-competence-and-above-all-for-a/) [Izaak Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/izaak-walton/) > [Making money doesn't oblige people to forfeit their honor or their conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-rothschild/making-money-doesn-t-oblige-people-to-forfeit-their-honor-or-their/) [Guy de Rothschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-de-rothschild/) > [“If we cannot be happy and powerful and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/if-we-cannot-be-happy-and-powerful-and-prey-on-others-we-invent/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hand one day a book of Martin Luthers; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bunyan/the-god-in-whose-hands-are-all-our-days-and-ways-did-cast-into-my/) [John Bunyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bunyan/) > [My morals are important to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hunter-parrish/my-morals-are-important-to-me/) [Hunter Parrish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hunter-parrish/) > [Being tolerant does not mean that I share another ones belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another ones right to believe, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-frankl/being-tolerant-does-not-mean-that-i-share-another-ones-belief-but-it/) [Viktor Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-frankl/) > [Never can true courage dwell with them, Who, playing tricks with conscience, dare not look At their own vices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/never-can-true-courage-dwell-with-them-who-playing-tricks-with/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-edensor-littlewood/in-presenting-a-mathematical-argument-the-great-thing-is-to-give-the/) [John Edensor Littlewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-edensor-littlewood/) > [I've worked with people who are much further to the left than I am and much further to the right than I am. At…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hanks/i-ve-worked-with-people-who-are-much-further-to-the-left-than-i-am/) [Tom Hanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hanks/) > [If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/if-all-the-world-hated-you-and-believed-you-wicked-while-your-own/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [ \[D\]on't grow old. With age comes caution, which is another name for cowardice… Whatever else you do in life, don't cultivate a conscience. Without… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hesketh-pearson/d-on-t-grow-old-with-age-comes-caution-which-is-another-name-for/) [Hesketh Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hesketh-pearson/) [Browse all 3,490 Conscience quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Photography is the very conscience of painting. It constantly reminds the later of what it must not do.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brassai" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-painting-it-constantly-reminds/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conscience" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-painting-it-constantly-reminds/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f9/brassai-22488_conscience_photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-pa_1487061.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Photography is the very conscience of painting. It constantly reminds the later of what it must not do.” — Brassai", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Brassai", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brassai/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Photography is the very conscience of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-painting-it-constantly-reminds/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brassai/photography-is-the-very-conscience-of-painting-it-constantly-reminds/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```