QuoteProject
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.
Louis Kahn
ShareWTF𝕏

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

The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
Louis KahnRead
I 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

Similar quotes

To the children who loved Harry Potter, I want to say your enthusiasm was the real magic. I so enjoyed being on the journey with you. And to the adults who bought the Harry Potter books and devoured them, I just want to say, those books were for children.
Daniel RadcliffeRead
Revolutionary art and visionary physics are both investigations into the nature of reality.
Leonard ShlainRead
If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life. I mean people are going to say, You're crazy. Plus they're going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. A lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that's a reasonable kind of attention to be paid.
Diane ArbusRead
That kill the bloom before its time, And blanch, without the owner's crime, The most resplendent hair.
William WordsworthRead
You have to create the show anew, and find it anew, on a nightly basis.
Bruce SpringsteenRead
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Iris MurdochRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.