A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe and 50 times: It is a beautiful catastrophe.
Le CorbusierRead
Belgrade is the ugliest city in the world in the most beautiful place in the world.
Interpretation
The quote contrasts external appearance with the intrinsic beauty of a location.
Le Corbusier's quote highlights the paradox of Belgrade's perceived ugliness despite its stunning geographical setting. This reflects a deeper philosophical commentary on how aesthetics can be subjective, as the true value of a place may lie beyond its visual appeal, hinting at the complexities of urban environments and their capabilities for cultural richness irrespective of flaws in surface beauty.
In practice
During a city tour, one might use this quote to provoke thoughts about urban development.
A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe and 50 times: It is a beautiful catastrophe.
Our world, like a charnel-house, is strewn with the detritus of dead epochs.
The history of architecture is the history of the struggle for light.
Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.
The purpose of construction is TO MAKE THINGS HOLD TOGETHER; of architecture TO MOVE US.
Light creates ambience and feel of a place, as well as the expression of a structure.
I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development.
I am convinced that the act of thinking logically cannot possibly be natural to the human mind. If it were, then mathematics would be everybody's easiest course at school and our species would not have taken several millennia to figure out the scientific method.
What a tragedy is help where it harms what it supports!
Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.
Tramping is too easy with all this money. My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal... I've decided that I'm going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up.
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.
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