There is a crucial distinction to be made between innovation and originality. The second, unlike the first, can never break with what preceded it: to be original, an artist must also belong to the tradition from which he departs. To put it another way, he must violate the expectations of his audience, but he must also, in countless ways, uphold and endorse them.

The culture of a civilization is the art and literature through which it rises to consciousness of itself and defines its vision of the world.

Modernism in architecture went hand in hand with socialist and fascist projects to rid old Europe of its hierarchical past

To speak of beauty is to enter another and more exalted realm-a realm sufficiently apart from our everyday concerns as to be mentioned only with a certain hesitation. People who are always in praise and pursuit of the beautiful are an embarrassment, like people who make a constant display of their religious faith. Somehow, we feel such things should be kept for our exalted moments, and not paraded in company, or allowed to spill out over dinner.

There are no chords in modernist architecture, only lines - lines that may come to an end, but that achieve no closure

The consolation of imaginary things is not imaginary consolation.

Modern art was born from a desire to destroy kitsch.