Vitruvius Quotes
More Vitruvius Quotes
Some people do indeed say that Eratosthenes could not have inferred the true measure of the earth. Whether true or untrue, it cannot affect the truth of what I have written on the fixing of the quarters from which the different winds blow.
Vitruvius— De architectura, Book I, Chapter VI, Section 11 (~15 BC).
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.
Vitruvius— Chapter II, Sec. 3
Propriety is that perfection of style which comes when a work is authoritatively constructed on approved principles. It arises from prescription, from usage, or from nature.
Vitruvius— Chapter II, Sec. 5
They drew near, and observing that they were very comfortable standing before the warm fire, they put on logs and, while thus keeping it alive, brought up other people to it, showing them by signs how much comfort they got from it. In that gathering of men, at a time when utterance of sound was purely individual, from daily habits they fixed upon articulate words just as these had happened to come; then, from indicating by name things in common use, the result was that in this chance way they began to talk, and thus originated conversation with one another.
Vitruvius— Chapter I "The Origin of the Dwelling House" Sec. 1
The steps in front must be arranged so that there shall always be an odd number of them; for thus the right foot, with which one mounts the first step, will also be the first to reach the level of the temple itself.
Vitruvius— Chapter IV, Sec. 4
Hence, men that are born in the north are rendered over-timid and weak by fever, but their wealth of blood enables them to stand up against the sword without timidity.
Vitruvius— Chapter I, Sec. 4
It was a wise and useful provision of the ancients to transmit their thoughts to posterity by recording them in treatises, so that they should not be lost, but, being developed in succeeding generations through publications in books, should gradually attain in later times, to the highest refinement of learning.
Vitruvius— De architectura (Translation: The Ten Books On Architecture), Book VII, Introduction, Sec. 1 (~ 15BC)
They make a fine purple colour by treating bilberry in the same way and mixing it with milk.
Vitruvius— Chapter XIV, Sec. 2
From astronomy we find the east, west, south, and north, as well as the theory of the heavens, the equinox, solstice, and courses of the stars. If one has no knowledge of these matters, he will not be able to have any comprehension of the theory of sundials.
Vitruvius— Chapter I, Sec. 10
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— Chapter I, Sec. 11
Reflexion is careful and laborious thought, and watchful attention directed to the agreeable effect of one's plan. Invention, on the other hand, is the solving of intricate problems and the discovery of new principles by means of brilliancy and versatility.
Vitruvius— De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture), Chapter II, Sec. 2 (~15 BC)
Eurythmy is beauty and fitness in the adjustments of the members. This is found when the members of a work are of a height suited to their breadth, of a breadth suited to their length, and, in a word, when they all correspond symmetrically.
Vitruvius— Chapter II, Sec. 3
When the morning breezes blow toward the town at sunrise, if they bring with them mists from marshes and, mingled with the mist, the poisonous breath of the creatures of the marshes to be wafted into the bodies of the inhabitants, they will make the site unhealthy.
Vitruvius— Chapter IV "The Site of a City" Sec. 1
The system of fortification by wall and towers may be made safest by the addition of earthen ramparts .
Vitruvius— Chapter V, Sec. 5
Quoth he [ Alexander ] "...as a newborn babe cannot be nourished without the nurse's milk, nor conducted to the approaches that lead to growth in life, so a city cannot thrive without fields and the fruits thereof pouring into its walls."
Vitruvius— Introduction, Sec. 3
While in Campania the burning of the earth makes ashes, in Tuscany the combustion of the stone makes carbuncular sand. Both are excellent in walls but one is better to use for buildings on land, the other for piers under salt water.
Vitruvius— Chapter VI, Sec. 6
Next comes the consideration of stone quarries from which dimension stone and supplies of rubble to be used in building are taken and brought together.
Vitruvius— Chapter VII "Stone" Sec. 1
For the eye is always in search of beauty, and if we do not gratify its desire for pleasure by a proportionate enlargement in these measures, and thus make compensation for ocular deception, a clumsy and awkward appearance will be presented to the beholder.
Vitruvius— Chapter III, Sec. 13
Even peasants wholly without knowledge of the quarters of the sky believe that oxen ought to face only in the direction of the sunrise.
Vitruvius— Chapter VI, Sec. 1
