The Source of “The Decisive Moment”

We all know the quotation, but where did it come from?

The original French edition, at left, and the English version with the new name. 1952

It’s well known that Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote a short manifesto regarding his photography in 1952 book that he called “Images à la Sauvette” which translates to “Images on the run” (or “on the fly”). It’s a good description of his work as a street photographer and his philosophy of picture taking. But there’s an interesting quotation in the preface:

“Il n’y a rien dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisif…”

— Cardinal de Retz

Which translates to “There is nothing in the world that does not have its decisive moment.” It was something that Cartier-Bresson wanted to put before his readers, of course, but it was the publisher who selected that expression, “The Decisive Moment” and elevated it to the title of the English edition.

The French edition (July 1952)

My question was simple: Who was Cardinal de Retz? and where did this quotation come from? I started with ChatGPT which discouragingly reported this:

In his famous book “The Decisive Moment,” Cartier-Bresson credits…