--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Photography is a kind of overstatement, a…" description: "\"Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic copulation with the material world.\" — Susan Sontag" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg" --- # Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic… ![“Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic copulation with the material world.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg) > “Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic copulation with the material world.” [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. Photography exaggerates reality, merging art with the physical world in a bold way. **In simple terms:** Photography dramatizes reality. Key Takeaway Use photography mindfully. Themes art perception reality Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - journalism - personal storytelling - advertising Key Concepts visual culture representation hyperrealism Questions to Reflect On - How does photography shape our view of truth? - When does it become manipulation? A Different Perspective Overemphasis can distort truth and authenticity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Heroic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroic/) [Material world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/material-world/) [Overstatement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/overstatement/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Photography is a kind of virtual reality, and it helps if you can create the illusion of being in an interesting world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/photography-is-a-kind-of-virtual-reality-and-it-helps-if-you-can/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [For example, Michael Mann's film Collateral - there is certain kinds of stories that lend themselves to digital photography. Some things are very raw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-modine/for-example-michael-mann-s-film-collateral-there-is-certain-kinds-of/) [Matthew Modine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-modine/) > [There's this idea that photography is a kind of testimony and therefore we're forbidden to tell lies with it. I think that's nonsense. Photography…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-horvat/there-s-this-idea-that-photography-is-a-kind-of-testimony-and/) [Frank Horvat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-horvat/) > [When I found photography, I found this other kind of portraiture of black families and black people who were photographing themselves or having themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-sherald/when-i-found-photography-i-found-this-other-kind-of-portraiture-of/) [Amy Sherald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-sherald/) > [The chief error in philosophy is overstatement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/the-chief-error-in-philosophy-is-overstatement/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [The physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/the-physicists-have-known-sin-and-this-is-a-knowledge-which-they/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) > [A single overstatement, wherever or however it occurs, diminishes the whole, and a carefree superlative has the power to destroy, for the reader, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-single-overstatement-wherever-or-however-it-occurs-diminishes-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There's been this attempt to block Donald Trump, in primary candidates and Democrats, that - to try to make everything he says some sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-sessions/there-s-been-this-attempt-to-block-donald-trump-in-primary-candidates/) [Jeff Sessions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-sessions/) > [Leaving out the gamblers, the burglars, and the plumbers, perhaps we do put our trust in God after a fashion. But, after all, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/leaving-out-the-gamblers-the-burglars-and-the-plumbers-perhaps-we-do/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“Strunk and White wrote in Elements of Style, “Do not overstate…a single overstatement, wherever or however it occurs, diminishes the whole.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/strunk-and-white-wrote-in-elements-of-style-do-not-overstate-a-single/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > ["Simpler is always better" is an overstatement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/simpler-is-always-better-is-an-overstatement/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [“If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you'll die a lot of times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-smith/if-you-treat-every-situation-as-a-life-and-death-matter-you-ll-die-a/) [Dean Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-smith/) > [Jay Mohr saved my life. That's not an overstatement either.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralphie-may/jay-mohr-saved-my-life-that-s-not-an-overstatement-either/) [Ralphie May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralphie-may/) > [Saying I took my clean water for granted is an overstatement. To tell you the truth, I didn't even think about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashlan-gorse-cousteau/saying-i-took-my-clean-water-for-granted-is-an-overstatement-to-tell/) [Ashlan Gorse Cousteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashlan-gorse-cousteau/) > [It is a gross overstatement, but in chess, it can be said I play against my opponent over the board and against myself on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-korchnoi/it-is-a-gross-overstatement-but-in-chess-it-can-be-said-i-play/) [Viktor Korchnoi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-korchnoi/) ## 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 Heroic quotes > [I am convinced that we will never build a democratic state based on rule of law if we do not at the same time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vaclav-havel/i-am-convinced-that-we-will-never-build-a-democratic-state-based-on/) [Vaclav Havel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vaclav-havel/) > [The truth is always more heroic than the hype.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-lynch/the-truth-is-always-more-heroic-than-the-hype/) [Jessica Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-lynch/) > [Lack of confidence, sometimes alternating with unrealistic dreams of heroic success, often leads to procrastination, and many studies suggest that procrastinators are self-handicappers: rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-surowiecki/lack-of-confidence-sometimes-alternating-with-unrealistic-dreams-of/) [James Surowiecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-surowiecki/) > [“The Coward will run away from danger, only to strike in the dark. The Heroine will run through the dark, even though she knows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-a-cleinman/the-coward-will-run-away-from-danger-only-to-strike-in-the-dark-the/) David A. Cleinman > [All progress in literary style lies in the heroic resolve to cast aside accretions and exuberances, all the conventions of a past age that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/all-progress-in-literary-style-lies-in-the-heroic-resolve-to-cast/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) > [“Admitting we're not heroic is when we're the most heroic of all”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dorian-scrubs/admitting-we-re-not-heroic-is-when-we-re-the-most-heroic-of-all/) [John Dorian- scrubs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dorian-scrubs/) > [But despite their heroic acts, the Vietnam Veterans of America continued to struggle to establish a combat badge in honor of these brave pilots…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-holden/but-despite-their-heroic-acts-the-vietnam-veterans-of-america/) [Tim Holden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-holden/) > [I was hugely impressed... was the ultimate example of a man who knew what he didn't know, was perfectly willing to admit it, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-pausch/i-was-hugely-impressed-was-the-ultimate-example-of-a-man-who-knew/) [Randy Pausch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-pausch/) > [Yet only the atrocities of the conquered are referred to as criminal acts; those of the conqueror are justified as necessary, heroic, and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-fergus/yet-only-the-atrocities-of-the-conquered-are-referred-to-as-criminal/) [Jim Fergus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-fergus/) > [There's always something heroic and romantic about taking a stand against the powers that be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-gutfeld/there-s-always-something-heroic-and-romantic-about-taking-a-stand/) [Greg Gutfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-gutfeld/) > [In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied; and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adelbert-von-chamisso/in-this-watering-place-i-acted-an-heroic-character-badly-studied-and/) [Adelbert von Chamisso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adelbert-von-chamisso/) > [She looked at me. "What? Is there something wrong with my idea?" "It's not very heroic," I said dismissively. "I was expecting something with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/she-looked-at-me-what-is-there-something-wrong-with-my-idea-it-s-not/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/heroism-feels-and-never-reasons-and-therefore-is-always-right/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“She was fierce in the presence of death, heroic even, as she was at no other time. Its threat gave her direction, clarity, audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/she-was-fierce-in-the-presence-of-death-heroic-even-as-she-was-at-no/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Find something useful to do with your morning,' she thought to him as she neared her chambers. 'Do something heroic in front of an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-cashore/find-something-useful-to-do-with-your-morning-she-thought-to-him-as/) [Kristin Cashore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-cashore/) [Browse all 871 Heroic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic copulation with the material world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Sontag" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a-heroic-copulation-with-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Heroic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a-heroic-copulation-with-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/susan-sontag-332_heroic_photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a_2251260.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic copulation with the material world.” — 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": "Photography is a kind of overstatement,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a-heroic-copulation-with-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photography-is-a-kind-of-overstatement-a-heroic-copulation-with-the/#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 } } ] } ```