How does an artist know when the line that he just painted is good or not good? That's the catch. De Kooning was the greatest of my contemporaries in art, and he knew when he'd done a good line. When… — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
I'm a chameleon, so changeable. I see myself as a gadfly and a questioner. — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
Scientific naturalism is a story that reduces reality to physical particles and impersonal laws, [and] portrays life as a meaningless competition among organisms that… — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
I hate vacations. If you can build buildings, why sit on the beach? — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
I like to be buttoned onto tradition. The thing is to improve it, twist it and mold it; to make something new of it;… — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
So now the floodgates are open to the delight of pure form, whatever its origin. Anything goes. — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
I haven't any wisdom - just a child like everybody else. I'm not as great as Frank Lloyd Wright. — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
Don't build a glass house if you're worried about saving money on heating. — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
In our greatest universities, naturalism - the doctrine that nature is all there is - is the virtually unquestioned assumption that underlies not only… — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image
The automobile is the greatest catastrophe in the entire history of City architecture. — Philip Johnson Copy Share Image