Organic planning does not begin with a preconceived goal; it moves from need to need, from opportunity to opportunity, in a series of adaptations that themselves become increasingly coherent and purposeful, so that they generate a complex final design, hardly less unified than a pre-formed geometric pattern.
Lewis MumfordSafety razors make it hard to grow beards in America: America would be a better place if there were a few bearded, savage, terrible old men.
Lewis MumfordWhen vitality runs high, death takes men by surprise. But if they close their eyes to this possibility, what they gain in peace they lose in sensibility and significance.
Lewis MumfordRestore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.
Lewis MumfordOne of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence.
Lewis MumfordIron and coal dominated everywhere, from grey to black: the black boots, the black stove-pipe hat, the black coach or carriage, the black iron frame of the hearth, the black cooking pots and pans and stoves. Was it a mourning? Was it protective coloration? Was it mere depression of the senses? No matter what the original color of the paleotechnic milieu might be it was soon reduced by reason of the soot and cinders that accompanied its activities, to its characteristic tones, grey, dirty-brown, black.
Lewis Mumford