The thirty-three pictures selected by the American sculptress Sylvia Shaw Judson cover a wide spectrum of subjects and styles, from the seventh century to the modern day. They include works by artists ranging from Durer and Brueghel to Rousseau and Klee, pottery and sculpture from ancient Greece, Oriental scrolls and wall paintings, and are accompanied by quotations from Plato and Shakespeare to Wordsworth and Walt Whitman.

In making her choice, Sylvia Judson's intention was "to communicate a sense of affirmation, of wonder, of trust. This is a spirit alien to much of the art of our insecure time, but one which I am confident will some day return."

The Quiet Eye was first published as a large format art book in 1954, when it won immediate acclaim. The 1982 edition features a more convenient size and some color images that were originally published in black and white.