Dave Van Ronk Quotes

I like building.

I like building houses, working as a carpenter, painting. You work with your hands to the best of your ability, and at the end of the day, you go home with some satisfaction: 'I built that!'

I like a man who can build things. Whittle me something out of wood and I'm sold.

Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.

My job the same as carpenter. What kind of house you want to build? What kind of food you want to make? You think your ingredients, your structure. Simple.

I do think a carpenter needs a good hammer to bang in the nail.

A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.

As I mentioned, I was a carpenter for a time.

Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.

When I was four or five years old, my grandfather showed me how to build things, paint, saw. Through years of fixing bikes, repairing lawn mowers, I learned how things work.

Building a dollhouse is a lot like writing a novel because you are God of the Universe.

Doing designs on a loom takes a lot of talent and experience, and, trust me, I won't be able to do that.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.

I used to hang out in my dad's workshop on weekends. Later, when I was starting out as an actor, I became a roofer and a framer to make money. But what I really enjoyed was the finished work. I like the longevity.

A builder is like a little god - somebody who does things, doesn't just draw things.

I like to build things. I like to do things.

Watching something being constructed, whether you're passing a building site or whether you're watching an artist at work, is fascinating, and I think that's the enjoyment.

I learned construction and carpentry from my father at a young age, so I felt very comfortable and I felt very satisfied when I worked in that field.

Woodworking requires a completely different kind of thinking and problem-solving ability than writing. With writing, you take a set of facts and ideas, and you reason your way forward to a story that pulls them together. With woodworking, you start with an end product in mind, and reason your way backward to the raw wood.

Building is just skilled labor, I suppose. It's a lot of work. I don't mind other people building them, but the way things go together and are made is interesting to me; I like that a lot.

I was a carpenter for a time and everybody watches what you do.

I like building and making things. I, perhaps, would like to try my hand at directing one day. Sometimes I fancy myself as an architect - but I think I might need to go back to school for that.

Speaking as a builder, if you start something, you must have a vision of the thing which arises from your instinct about preserving and enhancing what is there.

The beauty of a finely worked object points to the beauty of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the craftsmanship points to the beauty of the name which was the source of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the name of the craftsman's art points to the beauty of the craftsman's attributes manifested in that art.

I was much more interested in making things than in designing them.