--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Images are more real than anyone could…" description: "\"Images are more real than anyone could have supposed.\" — Susan Sontag" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg" --- # Images are more real than anyone could have supposed. ![“Images are more real than anyone could have supposed.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg) > “Images are more real than anyone could have supposed.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Images can feel more authentic than reality because they capture moments that reality may obscure. **In simple terms:** Photos sometimes seem more real than life. Key Takeaway Recognize the power of visual perception. Themes media perception reality Mood critical contemplative Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - advertising - social media - journalism Key Concepts representation truth illusion Questions to Reflect On - How do images shape your view? - When do you trust a photo? A Different Perspective Images can be manipulated, distorting truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/images/) [Images Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/images-real-1679340/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Real Supposed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-supposed-5932125/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Supposed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supposed/) ## Related quotes > [As a photographer, I'm interested in how dramatically photography has changed. Most images are not real or are composites, and most of us don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-allee/as-a-photographer-i-m-interested-in-how-dramatically-photography-has/) [David Allee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-allee/) > [All art forms employ some means through which images become real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/all-art-forms-employ-some-means-through-which-images-become-real/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [Images anesthetize. An event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/images-anesthetize-an-event-known-through-photographs-certainly/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Where the real world changes into simple images, the simple images become real beings and effective motivations of hypnotic behavior.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-debord/where-the-real-world-changes-into-simple-images-the-simple-images/) [Guy Debord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-debord/) > [I come from an era when we had to figure out how to bolt a camera to a motorcycle or an airplane or dig…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dykstra/i-come-from-an-era-when-we-had-to-figure-out-how-to-bolt-a-camera-to/) [John Dykstra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dykstra/) > [Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers. The question of what to do with the feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/compassion-is-an-unstable-emotion-it-needs-to-be-translated-into-3/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [While a painting, even one that meets photographic standards of resemblance, is never more than the stating of an interpretation, a photograph is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/while-a-painting-even-one-that-meets-photographic-standards-of/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-photograph-people-is-to-violate-them-by-seeing-them-as-they-never/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I always found very strong images for my songwriting in New York.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neneh-cherry/i-always-found-very-strong-images-for-my-songwriting-in-new-york/) [Neneh Cherry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neneh-cherry/) > [ \[We\] make images to see clearly: then we see clearly what we have made. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wright-morris/we-make-images-to-see-clearly-then-we-see-clearly-what-we-have-made/) [Wright Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wright-morris/) > [TV images are powerful and sometimes unfair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-katharine-ham/tv-images-are-powerful-and-sometimes-unfair/) [Mary Katharine Ham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-katharine-ham/) > [On the stage, the characters express themselves more through words than images. So the arguments of the characters and the tension between characters -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-alda/on-the-stage-the-characters-express-themselves-more-through-words/) [Alan Alda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-alda/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? It’s biologically + psychologically too turbulent a time to be cooped up inside, made to sit all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/why-not-eliminate-schooling-between-age-12-16-it-s-biologically/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-photograph-people-is-to-violate-them-by-seeing-them-as-they-never/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves. The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Images quotes > [On the stage, the characters express themselves more through words than images. So the arguments of the characters and the tension between characters -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-alda/on-the-stage-the-characters-express-themselves-more-through-words/) [Alan Alda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-alda/) > [TV images are powerful and sometimes unfair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-katharine-ham/tv-images-are-powerful-and-sometimes-unfair/) [Mary Katharine Ham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-katharine-ham/) > [ \[We\] make images to see clearly: then we see clearly what we have made. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wright-morris/we-make-images-to-see-clearly-then-we-see-clearly-what-we-have-made/) [Wright Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wright-morris/) > [I always found very strong images for my songwriting in New York.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neneh-cherry/i-always-found-very-strong-images-for-my-songwriting-in-new-york/) [Neneh Cherry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neneh-cherry/) > [I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/i-have-been-so-great-in-boxing-they-had-to-create-an-image-like-rocky/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [War is big and there are only so many reporters and only so many places for their words and images to appear. Choices are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-jackson/war-is-big-and-there-are-only-so-many-reporters-and-only-so-many/) [Bruce Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-jackson/) > [My job as an editor is to gently prod the attention of the audience to look at various parts of the frame. And that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-murch/my-job-as-an-editor-is-to-gently-prod-the-attention-of-the-audience/) [Walter Murch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-murch/) > [The focus in the Western pictorial tradition is on the body of Christ, the bit you can paint, the Nativity and the infancy, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-macgregor/the-focus-in-the-western-pictorial-tradition-is-on-the-body-of-christ/) [Neil MacGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-macgregor/) > [We've seen the kind of social impact a professional sports team has on a city. A team brings high-profile role models into your community…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-cornett/we-ve-seen-the-kind-of-social-impact-a-professional-sports-team-has/) [Mick Cornett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-cornett/) > [It is as if something somewhere were 'known' in the form of images - but not by us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-louise-von-franz/it-is-as-if-something-somewhere-were-known-in-the-form-of-images-but/) [Marie-Louise von Franz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-louise-von-franz/) > [I'd probably play games obsessively if I didn't write, although I admit I don't read novels partly because I don't enjoy it, not just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-traviss/i-d-probably-play-games-obsessively-if-i-didn-t-write-although-i/) [Karen Traviss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-traviss/) > [“The ocean stands for God, the sole substance, and individual beings are like waves - which are modes of the sea. Each wave has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clare-carlisle/the-ocean-stands-for-god-the-sole-substance-and-individual-beings-are/) [Clare Carlisle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clare-carlisle/) > [Words outlive people, institutions, civilizations. Words spur images, associations, memories, inspirations and synapse pulsations. Words send off physical resonations of thought into the nethersphere.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/inga-muscio/words-outlive-people-institutions-civilizations-words-spur-images/) [Inga Muscio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/inga-muscio/) > [A film is a machine made of images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hollis-frampton/a-film-is-a-machine-made-of-images/) [Hollis Frampton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hollis-frampton/) > [While technology efficiently delivers news stories to our desktops, laptops and mobile devices, magazines are all about context - how ideas and images are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefano-tonchi/while-technology-efficiently-delivers-news-stories-to-our-desktops/) [Stefano Tonchi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefano-tonchi/) [Browse all 363 Images quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/images/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Images are more real than anyone could have supposed.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Sontag" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-have-supposed/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Images" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-have-supposed/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/susan-sontag-332_images_images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-h_3199184.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Images are more real than anyone could have supposed.” — Susan Sontag", "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": "Susan Sontag", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Images are more real than anyone...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-have-supposed/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/images-are-more-real-than-anyone-could-have-supposed/#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 } } ] } ```