Arne Jacobsen Quotes

“A pastry usually tastes better if it looks nice.

A cream pastry, now that looks nice – in fact, there is nothing I mind as long as it looks nice.”

“Almost every time I make a building, some people will condemn it straight to Hell.”

“Architecture tends to consume everything else, it has become one's entire life.”

“Carrying out the thing, getting it to the point when one might say: There, now it is good – that point is hard to reach.

Often, one sets very high goals for oneself. Perhaps too high.”

“I do not feel certain until I have confronted my initial solution with other solutions.

Although in fact the first solution often proves to be the right one.”

“I don't see that any buildings should be excluded from the term architecture, as long as they are done properly.”

“I have no philosophy, my favourite thing is sitting in the studio.”

“I think that parents who criticise their children too much are in fact better than parents who praise their children too much.”

“If a building becomes architecture, then it is art.”

“If architecture had nothing to do with art, it would be astonishingly easy to build houses, but the architect's task - his most difficult task - is always that of selecting.”

“None of us has invented the house; that was done many thousands of years ago.”

“People buy a chair, and they don't really care who designed it.”

“Proportions are what makes the old Greek temples classic in their beauty.

They are like huge blocks, from which the air has been literally hewn out between the columns.”

“That is the artistic task: To choose the best from these solutions.”

“The primary factor is proportions.”

“There is always a point when one senses one's lack of skill, the doubt.”

“You will soon find that I am a bit obsessive about my work.

And that is a little sad, one often feels strangely restricted, not finding time to simmer, although one actually has many interests.”