Marcus Vitruvius Pollio Quotes

If our designs for private houses are to be correct, we must at the outset take note of the countries and climates in which they are built.

For we must not build temples according to the same rules to all gods alike, since the performance of the sacred rites varies with the various gods.

It is no secret that the moon has no light of her own, but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the influence of the sun.

Next I must tell about the machine of Ctesibius, which raises water to a height.

The oak ... has not the efficacy of the fir , nor the cypress that of the elm .

From food and water, then, we may learn whether sites are naturally unhealthy or healthy.

An architect ought to be an educated man so as to leave a more lasting remembrance in his treatises.

The design of a temple depends on symmetry , the principles of which must be most carefully observed by the architect.

For not all things are practicable on identical principles

There will be no propriety in the spectacle of an elegant interior approached by a low mean entrance.

The architect must not only understand drawing, but music.

Bricks should be made in Spring or Autumn so that they may dry uniformly.

All machinery is derived from nature, and is founded on the teaching and instruction of the revolution of the firmament.

When the juices of trees have no means of escape, they clot and rot in them, making the trees hollow and good for nothing.

Cold winds are disagreeable, hot winds enervating, moist winds unhealthy.

Nothing suffers annihilation, but at dissolution there is a change, and things fall back to the essential element in which they were before.

The proper form of economy must be observed in building houses for each and every class.

There are ... many ... names for winds derived from localities or from the squalls which sweep from rivers or down mountains.

A harmonious design requires that nothing be added or taken away.

There are also kinds of water that cause death, as they run through harmful juices in the soil and become poisonous.

In fact, all kinds of men, and not merely architects, can recognize a good piece of work ...

Architecture depends on Order, Arrangement, Eurythmy, Symmetry , Propriety , and Economy.