The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
Louis KahnRead
I sense Light as the giver of all presences, and material as spent Light. What is made by Light casts a shadow, and the shadow belongs to Light.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Light is essential to existence and creation, shaping both the objects and their shadows.
In this quote, Louis Kahn reflects on the profound nature of light as the fundamental source of life and creation. He suggests that all material things are manifestations of light and that the shadows they cast are also intricately connected to their source, emphasizing the unity of existence and the relationship between what is seen and what is not.
Themes
LightShadowCreationPresenceExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about architectural design, you might quote Kahn to emphasize the importance of light in shaping spaces.
More from Louis Kahn
All quotes βI sense a Threshold: Light to Silence, Silence to Light - an ambiance of inspiration, in which the desire to be, to express, crosses with the possible Light to Silence, Silence to Light crosses in the sanctuary of art.
Louis KahnRead
Greek architecture taught me that the column is where the light is not, and the space between is where the light is. It is a matter of no-light, light, no-light, light. A column and a column brings light between them. To make a column which grows out of the wall and which makes its own rhythm of no-light, light, no-light, light: that is the marvel of the artist.
Louis KahnRead
The room is the beginning of architecture.
Louis KahnRead
Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.
Louis KahnRead
The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.
Louis KahnRead
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