Quotes from Adolf Loos

Cultural evolution is synonymous with the removal of ornament from articles in daily use.

Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect's task therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise.

The house has to please everyone, contrary to the work of art which does not. The work is a private matter for the artist. The house is not.

The work of art shows people new directions and thinks of the future. The house thinks of the present.

Be truthful, nature only sides with truth.

Does it follow that the house has nothing in common with art and is architecture not to be included in the arts? Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument. Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domain of art.

Be not afraid of being called un-fashionable.

If we find a mound six feet long and three feet wide in the forests, formed into a pyramid, shaped by a shovel, we become serious and something says, "someone lies buried here"... Now that is architecture.

Ne množství, nýbrž jakost práce pomáhá ur?ovat hodnotu každého p?edm?tu. Žijeme v dob?, jež dává p?ednost kvantit? práce. Nebo? tato kvantita se dá lehce kontrolovat, je každému hned nápadná a nevyžaduje cvi?eného pohledu nebo n?jakých látkových znalostí.

It is ridiculous to lay down to people where a thing should stand, design everything for them from the lavatory pan to the ashtray. On the contrary, I like people to move their furniture so that it suits them (not me!), and it's quite natural (and I approve) when they bring the old pictures and mementos they have come to love into a new interior, irrespective of whether they are good taste or bad.

Mladý muž je tehdy bohatý, má-li rozum v hlav? a dobrý oblek ve sk?íni.

Jde o to být oble?en tak, abychom byli co nejmén? nápadní. ?ervený frak je v tane?ním sále nápadný. Tedy je ?ervený frak v tane?ním sále nemoderní. Cylindr na led? je nápadný. Proto je na led? nemoderní. Všecko, co je nápadné, platí v dobré spole?nosti za hrubé a nep?ípustné.

Hejsek je ?lov?k, jemuž slouží oblek jen k tomu, aby se od svého okolí co nejvíce lišil

the development of culture is concurrent with the removal of ornaments from objects of daily use

Art is something that must be overcome.

Každý kus nábytku, každá v?c, každý p?edm?t vypráví p?íhody, historii rodiny. Byt není nikdy hotový: vyvíjí se s námi a my v n?m.

A kdo si zakládá domov, a? si za?izuje vše sám.

L'architecture éveille en l'homme des états d'âme.. La tâche des architectes est de préciser ces états d'âmes.

Changes in the traditional way of building are only permitted if they are an improvement. Otherwise stay with what is traditional, for truth, even if it be hundreds of years old has a stronger inner bond with us than the lie that walks by our side.

Supply and demand regulate architectural form.

The law courts must appear as a threatening gesture toward secret vice. The bank must declare: here your money is secure and well looked after by honest people.

Lack of ornamentation is a sign of spiritual strength.

It does not do to use it with forms whose origin is intimately bound up with a specific material simply because no technical difficulties stand in the way.

The Potemkin city of which I wish to speak here is none other than our dear Vienna herself.