A biography for David Douglas Duncanhasn’t been written yet.
“War is the easiest photography in the business. Just get close, be lucky, know how your camera works. There are subjects everywhere. Everyplace you go, there is something to photograph in a war, like being in the middle of a hurricane or a train crash or an earthquake. You can't miss it.”
“Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam were perfect for Lyndon Johnson: 220 million against 18 million, water buffalo and all. No risk, really.”
“The Marines in Korea never feared 'friendly fire' or artillery coming from the South Koreans - from their allies - like they did later in Vietnam, fighting with the South Vietnamese. The Koreans could be trusted.”
“Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and knowing nothing about Picasso, I had the audacity to knock on his door, became his friend, and took thousands of photographs, of him, his studios, his life and his friends.”
“With Germany conquered, the Kremlin checkmated, Japan converted, it became easier - safer - to peek around looking for someone to fear... and maybe do something about. Ideally, somebody far away, from a country about which almost nothing was known.”
“Gandhi was a strange guy. There was this simplistic manner; but nobody knows what it cost to provide the simple life of Mohandas Gandhi. Nobody. He traveled on a train by himself.”
“I was a war correspondent in Korea. I did a book on it: 'This is War.'”
“So many people are exploiting the name Picasso - and, in a way, even the estate is doing it.”
“I have taken some hits here and there, but I've been most damaged carrying my little terrier to bed, and I broke my hip turning off the lamp. I've been nicked a few times, but he put me out of business. So life is a very strange adventure.”
“After I left the Marines in '46, I wanted to stay in the Marines; I was very happy - I loved that life.”
“The major economies are not American anymore. They are Asian and South American.”
“War is in the eyes.”
“I don't think you can impose a social order from the top down.”
“Today, Japan is one of the few countries in the world where one hears laughter everywhere.”
“Some guys can run fast, some guys can sing, I found I could take photographs that people were interested in.”
“My only rule: I never photographed the face of the dead, ever, out of respect for the families.”