6 quotes
When we build, let us think that we build for ever.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
I do not believe that ever any building was truly great, unless it had mighty masses, vigorous and deep, of shadow mingled with its surface.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
There is nothing so small but that we may honour God by asking His guidance of it, or insult Him by taking it into our own hands.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
It is the glistening and softly spoken lie; the amiable fallacy; the patriotic lie of the historian, the provident lie of the politician, the zealous lie of the partisan, the merciful lie of the friend, and the careless lie of each man to himself, that cast that black mystery over humanity, through which we thank any man who pierces, as we would thank one who dug a well in a desert.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)