When I lately stood with a friend before [the cathedral of]
Amiens, . . . he asked me how read more

When I lately stood with a friend before [the cathedral of]
Amiens, . . . he asked me how it happens that we can no longer
build such piles? I replied: "Dear Alphonse, men in those days
had convictions (Ueberzeugungen), we moderns have opinions
(Meinungen) and it requires something more than an opinion to
build a Gothic cathedral.

No hammers fell, no ponderous axes rung,
Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
Majestic silence.

No hammers fell, no ponderous axes rung,
Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
Majestic silence.

Nor did there want
Cornice or frieze with bossy sculpture graven.

Nor did there want
Cornice or frieze with bossy sculpture graven.

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

I don't build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build.

I don't build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build.

Ah, to build, to build!
That is the noblest of all the arts.

Ah, to build, to build!
That is the noblest of all the arts.

Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.

Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.

There will never be great architects or great architecture
without great patrons.

There will never be great architects or great architecture
without great patrons.

Grandeur . . . consists in form, and not in size: and to the eye
of the philosopher, the read more

Grandeur . . . consists in form, and not in size: and to the eye
of the philosopher, the curve drawn on a paper two inches long,
is just as magnificent, just as symbolic of divine mysteries and
melodies, as when embodied in the span of some cathedral roof.