Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Design, Understood, Materials

  170 Copy quote

• Less is more.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Writing, Less Is More

  Ricardo Daza, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (2000). “Looking for Mies”, Birkhauser

  148 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Architecture, Language, Poet

  159 Copy quote

• God is in the details.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  God, Educational, Learning

  Quoted in Architectural Forum, May 1958 See Flaubert 3; Modern Proverbs 24; Warburg 1

  150 Copy quote

• It is better to be good than to be original.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Be Good, Originals

  97 Copy quote

• Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Badass, Bad Ass, Space

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alexander von Vegesack, Matthias Kries, Vitra Design Museum (1998). “Mies van der Rohe: architecture and design in Stuttgart, Barcelona, Brno”, Skira - Berenice

  113 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Order, Confusion, Architecture

  71 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Use, Remember, Materials

  142 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Two, Together, Bricks

  150 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Love, Family, Happiness

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Moisés Puente (2008). “Conversations with Mies Van Der Rohe”, p.56, Princeton Architectural Press

  110 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Children, Want, Able

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Moisés Puente (2008). “Conversations with Mies Van Der Rohe”, p.17, Princeton Architectural Press

  146 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Building, Should, Function

  100 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Art, Fame, Easier

  130 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Education, Learning, Firsts

  73 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Age, Architecture, Spatial

  1922 De Stijl, vol.6.

  81 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Teaching, Responsibility, Order

  88 Copy quote

• Architecture is the real battleground of the spirit.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Real, Spirit, Architecture

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Moisés Puente (2008). “Conversations with Mies Van Der Rohe”, p.9, Princeton Architectural Press

  63 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Order, Goal, Confusion

  69 Copy quote

• Each material is only what we make it.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Materials

  13 Copy quote

• God dwells in the details.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Details, Attention

  71 Copy quote

• But what if we are dealing with fools?

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  What If, Fool, Architecture

  48 Copy quote

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

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Order, Giving, Dues

  34 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Song, Expression, Echoes

  69 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Spiritual, Goal, Aim

  58 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Spiritual, Psychological, Function

  81 Copy quote

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