Brandon Stanton > Quotes

“Just because you're an adult doesn't mean you're grown up. Growing up means being patient, holding your temper, cutting out the self-pity, and quitting with the righteous indignation.'

'Why do so many people seem to love righteous indignation?'

'Because if you can prove you're a victim, all rules are off. You can lash out at people. You don't have to be accountable for anything.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“I really wanted to take her photo, so I walked up to the nearest adult and asked, 'Does she belong to you?' Suddenly the music stopped, and I heard: 'I belong to myself!”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“If you love the wrong one so much, just imagine how much you can love the right one.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“I've learned that every feeling will pass if you give it time. And if you learn to deal with your feelings, they'll pass by faster each time. So don't rush to cover them up by medicating them. You've got to deal with them.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“She had the most beautiful awkwardness”
― Brandon Stanton

“When my husband was dying, I said: Moe, how am I supposed to live without you? He told me: take the love you have for me and spread it around.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“The great thing about New York is that if you sit in one place long enough, the whole world comes to you.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“The sadness is under the thoughts. It's like when you're on a camping trip, and it's really cold, and you put on extra socks and an extra sweater, but you still can't get warm, because the coldness is in your bones.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“I'm having trouble dealing with society."
"What aspect of society?"
"The whole thing.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“I'm homeless, and I'm an alcoholic. But I have a dream.'

'What's that?'

'I wanna go fishing.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“I want to change the world but I don't know how.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“It seems that a lot of people my age try to be interesting by having problems or starting conflicts. I'd rather be interesting because I created something beautiful.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“There are so many people that use 'following your dreams' as an excuse to not work. When in reality, following your dreams, successfully, is nothing but work.”
― Brandon Stanton

“Every time I force myself to go outside something wonderful happens (Humans of New York photographed subject)”
― Brandon Stanton

“HONY is one of the only things keeping people from getting lost in the matrix.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“I wish I’d partied a little less. People always say ‘be true to yourself.’ But that’s misleading, because there are two selves. There’s your short term self, and there’s your long term self. And if you’re only true to your short term self, your long term self slowly decays.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“So what I am always looking for is, I'm always looking for something that that person has told me that nobody else has told me. It is normally not an opinion, and it is normally not a philosophy. It's almost always a story. Because we all share similar philosophies, we all share similar opinions on a lot of different issues, but all of our stories are our own.”
― Brandon Stanton

“I used to be a butcher. She used to come into my store. Every week I would set apart the best piece of meat for her. And look how it turned out - I ended up with the best piece of meat of them all.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“In an age of iPhones and Playstations, it's great to see that somebody's still rocking the bus-on-a-string.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“I'm a feminist. So if a woman and I are going for the last empty seat on the subway, I'm not holding back.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“We're eye doctors."

"What's something about the eye that most people don't realize?"

"The eye doesn't see. The brain sees. The eye just transmits. So what we see isn't only determined by what comes through the eyes. What we see is affected by our memories, our feelings, and by what we've seen before.”
― Brandon Stanton

“Shes's always been very accepting and patient with my trust issues. I've always had a hard time getting close. But no matter how many times I doubted, she just kept saying: 'I'm not going anywhere.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“Anyone who has a two hundred-plus IQ runs the risk of just hanging out because you get too involved in your own thoughts and you just want to sit there and think about .”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“It takes a lot of disquiet to achieve this sort of quiet comfort”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

“Anyone who has a two hundred-plus IQ runs the risk of just hanging out because you get too involved in your own thoughts and you just want to sit there and think about them.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“I have a lot of mental illness right now. Half of my energy goes into taking care of myself. I've been daydreaming about shaving my head fully 'cause then I'll look as sick as I feel.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“That's the problem with growing up in a white world. You think you can do anything that white people can do.”
― Brandon Stanton, Tanqueray

“It might be a cultural thing, but I was always scolded for showing emotion. Sadness was always met with anger.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories

“Judging by everyone's excitement, this day will always be remembered at the loading dock as the day 'Larry made it on the internet'.”
― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York