Organic architecture seeks superior sense of use and a finer sense of comfort, expressed in organic simplicity.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Architecture is the alphabet of giants; it is the largest set of symbols ever made to meet the eyes of men. A tower stands up like a sort of simplified stature, of much more than heroic size.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
We may live without her, and worship without her, but we cannot remember without her. How cold is all history, how lifeless all imagery, compared to that which the living nation writes, and the uncorrupted marble bears!
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
A building, if it’s beautiful, is the love of one man, he’s made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that.
—Martha Graham (1894–1991) American Choreographer
Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.
—Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) German-American Architect, Designer
The future of architecture does not lie so much in continuing to fill up the landscape as in bringing back life and order to our cities and towns.
—Gottfried Bohm (1920–2021) German Architect, Sculptor
Architecture is petrified music.
—Felix E. Schelling (1858–1945) American Literary Scholar
Greek architecture is the flowering of geometry.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
True, there are architects so called in this country, and I have heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making architectural ornaments have a core of truth, a necessity, and hence a beauty, as if it were a revelation to him. All very well perhaps from his point of view, but only a little better than the common dilettantism.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
In architecture the pride of man, his triumph over gravitation, his will to power, assume visible form. Architecture is a sort of oratory of power by means of form.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Solitude is good company and my architecture is not for those who fear or shun it.
—Luis Barragan (1902–88) Mexican Engineer, Architect
The architect represents neither a Dionysian nor an Apollinian condition: here it is the mighty act of will, the will which moves mountains, the intoxication of the strong will, which demands artistic expression. The most powerful men have always inspired the architects; the architect has always been influenced by power.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People ask why we have no typical architecture of the modern world, like impressionism in painting. Surely it is obviously because we have not enough dogmas; we cannot bear to see anything in the sky that is solid and enduring, anything in the sky that does not change like the clouds of the sky.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Every time a student walks past a really urgent, expressive piece of architecture that belongs to his college, it can help reassure him that he does have that mind, does have that soul.
—Louis Kahn (1901–74) American Architect
Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Architecture is the work of nations.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
—Martin Mull (1943–2024) American Actor, Comedian
Architecture is music in space, as it were a frozen music
—Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854) German Philosopher
No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
The worst of a modern stylish mansion is that it has no place for ghosts.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Houses are built to live in, more than to look on; therefore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Architecture is the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods, and men, to put man into possession of his own Earth. It is at least the geometric pattern of things, of life, of the human and social world. It is at best that magic framework of reality that we sometimes touch upon when we use the word order.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Nor aught availed him now to have built in heaven high towers; nor did he scrape by all his engines, but was headlong sent with his industrious crew to build in hell.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.
—Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) German-American Architect, Designer
There are a great many things about architecture that are hidden from the untrained eye.
—Frank Gehry (1929–2025) Canadian-Born Architect
Any work of architecture that does not express serenity is a mistake.
—Luis Barragan (1902–88) Mexican Engineer, Architect
If cities were built by the sound of music, then some edifices would appear to be constructed by grave, solemn tones, and others to have danced forth to light fantastic airs.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Leave a Reply