Architecture Quote by Alan Weisman

““Once, we built structures entirely from the most durable substances we knew: granite block, for instance. The results are still around today to admire, but we don’t often emulate them, because quarrying, cutting, transporting, and fitting stone require a patience we no longer possess.””

Alan Weisman

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.2 out of 5 (9 ratings)

Architecture Building Commitment Forever Foundations Lasting Permanence

More by Alan Weisman

“The Panama Canal,' says Abdiel Perez, 'is like a wound that humans inflicted on the Earth--one that nature is trying to heal.”

Alan Weisman

Image

The fact that the infrastructure is falling apart is not necessarily because it's built poorly. The New York City subways were built in 1903.…

Alan Weisman

Image

“Before artificial nitrogen fertilizer became widely available, the world's population was around 2 billion. When we no longer have it - or if we…

Alan Weisman

Image

“Puszcza, an old Polish word, means “forest primeval.” Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, the half-million acres of the Białowieża Puszcza contain Europe’s…

Alan Weisman

Image

Change is the hallmark of nature. Nothing remains the same.

Alan Weisman

Image

“In recent years, a green burial movement has protested formaldehyde, which oxidizes to formic acid, the toxic in fire ants and bee stingers, as…

Alan Weisman

Image

“In the days when money was backed by its face value in silver or gold, there were limits to how much wealth could flow…

Alan Weisman

Image

“Missing, however, are nearly all fauna adapted to us. The seemingly invincible cockroach, a tropical import, long ago froze in unheated apartment buildings. Without…

Alan Weisman

Image

All of us humans have myriad other species to thank. Without them, we couldn't exist. It's that simple, and we can't afford to ignore…

Alan Weisman

Image

In a future that portends stronger and more-frequent hurricanes striking North America's Atlantic coast, ferocious winds will pummel tall, unsteady structures. Some will topple,…

Alan Weisman

Image

The real people who hold our civilization together are the maintenance people. If it weren't for them - pumping water out of subways, painting…

Alan Weisman

Image

“Once, we built structures entirely from the most durable substances we knew: granite block, for instance. The results are still around today to admire,…

Alan Weisman

Image

Explore all 32 Alan Weisman quotes

More Architecture quotes

The bones of my architecture are very much related to the structure, to the physical fact of how a building can stand up; it's…

Santiago Calatrava

Image

A man walks down the street. It's a street in a strange world. Maybe it's the third world. Maybe it's his first time around.…

Paul Simon

Image

The Parthenon is really only a farmyard over which someone put a roof; colonades and sculptures were added because there were people in Athens…

Pablo Picasso

Image

Society understands the architecture of academia and knows there are relevant qualifications in different fields, and the media accepts the idea of specialisations and…

Jay Griffiths