Lewis Mumford Quotes & Sayings

“Life is the only art that we are required to practice without preparation, and without being allowed the preliminary trials, the failures and botches, that are essential for training.”

“However far modern science and techniques have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson; nothing is impossible.”

“Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends.”

“A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life.”

“Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.”

“Today, the degradation of the inner life is symbolized by the fact that the only place sacred from interruption is the private toilet.”

“To curb the machine and limit art to handicraft is a denial of opportunity.”

“A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.”

“Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.”

“The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.”