The Ten Books on Architecture

“I think that men have no right to profess themselves architects hastily, without having climbed from boyhood the steps of these studies and thus, nursed by the knowledge of many arts and sciences, having reached the heights of the holy ground of architecture.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“Our ancestors established the intelligent and useful practice of transmitting their thoughts to future generations in the form of bodies of notes so they would not be lost but, growing generation by generation once they had been published as books, they would gradually arrive at the highest level of scientific development in the course of time. So for this we owe them no half-hearted thanks but infinite gratitude, because they did not jealousy pass over these matters in silence but took great care to hand on to posterity their insights of all kinds in written form.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“Socrates […] is recorded as having said, sagely and with the greatest acuteness, that men’s breasts should have windows in them and be open so that their thoughts would not remain concealed but open for inspection.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work be done by the other arts is put to test.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“Writing on architecture is not like history or poetry.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“architects who have aimed at acquiring manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not the substance.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“…perhaps laymen will find it unbelievable that a man’s intellect enables him to understand and retain such a large number of disciplines. But when they realize that all disciplines are connected with, and feed into, each other, they will readily believe that this can happen. For a general education is like a single body composed of these different limbs. That is why those who are instructed in various subjects from a tender age recognise the ground common to all areas of study and the complimentary relationships between all the disciplines, and for that reason can readily understand all of them.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“For all fields, and especially architecture, comprise two aspects: that which is signified and that which signifies it. [... ] Therefore it is evident that a man who wants to proclaim himself an architect must be proficient with regards to both aspects.””

— Vitruvius Pollio

“This was how Dinocrates, recommended only by his good looks and dignified carriage, came to be so famous. But as for me, Emperor, nature has not given me stature, age has marred my face, and my strength is impaired by ill health.””

— Vitruvius Pollio