Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Quotes

Architecture is a language. When you are very good, you can be a poet

God is in the details.

No design is possible until the materials with which you design are completely understood

Less is more.

It is better to be good than to be original.

Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.

Architecture has the power to create order out of unholy confusion.

We must remember that everything depends on how we use a material, not on the material itself... New materials are not necessarily superior. Each material is only what we make it.

Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.

I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good.

Never talk to a client about architecture. Talk to him about his children. That is simply good politics. He will not understand what you have to say about architecture most of the time. An architect of ability should be able to tell a client what he wants. Most of the time a client never knows what he wants.

We must be as familiar with the functions of our building as with our materials. We must learn what a building can be, what it should be, and also what it must not be.

A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.

First you have to learn to do something, then you can go out and do it.

Architecture is the will of the age conceived in spatial terms.

If teaching has any purpose, it is to implant true insight and responsibility. Education must lead us from irresponsible opinion to true responsible judgement. It must lead us from chance and arbitrariness to rational clarity and intellectual order.

Architecture is the real battleground of the spirit.

The long path from material through function to creative work has only one goal: to create order out of the desperate confusion of our time.

Each material is only what we make it.

God dwells in the details.

But what if we are dealing with fools?

We must have order, allocating to each thing its proper place and giving to each thing is due according to its nature.

Where can we find greater structural clarity than in the wooden buildings of the old. Where else can we find such unity of material, construction and form? Here the wisdom of whole generations is stored. What feelings for material and what power of expression there is in these buildings! What warmth and beauty they have! They seem to be echoes of old songs.

True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values. Our aims assure us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life.

And just as we acquaint ourselves with materials, just as we must understand functions, so we must become familiar with the psychological and spiritual factors of our day. No cultural activity is possible otherwise; for we are dependent on the spirit of our time.