Tadao Ando Quotes

To reject the necessity of temples is to reject the necessity of God, religion and earthly existence.

One may as well dam for water tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.

Writing generally, it may be said that in design, roof, and general aspect, Japanese Buddhist temples are all alike. The sacred architectural idea expresses itself in nearly the same form always.

Space is the stature of God.

He who has seen one cathedral ten times has seen something; he who has seen ten cathedrals once has seen but little; and he who has spent half an hour in each of a hundred cathedrals has seen nothing at all.

I'm art. You're art. We are God's greatest works, simple as that.

The Crystal Cathedral is not an attempt to be an architectural ego-statement. It's probably the ultimate spiritual and psychological statement that could be made in architectural terms.

In an urban environment, a church building is a thing of the past.

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.

The Hindu religion appears ... as a cathedral temple, half in ruins, noble in the mass, often fantastic in detail but always fantastic with a significance crumbling or badly outworn in places, but a cathedral temple in which service is still done to the Unseen and its real presence can be felt by those who enter with the right spirit.

Building a temple didn't mean you believed in gods, it just meant you believed in architecture.

When I think of a place of worship, I think of a place where one can sit and be reminded of all the things that are important outside our individual lives. To express spirituality, the architect has to think of the original material of architecture, space and light.

If we do not worship God, God will not be the lesser for it. But we will.

By comparison with a night-club, churches are positively gay.

All places are places of worship to a Christian.

We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up to the idea that a good building can change your life (and a bad one ruin it).

The Cathedrals were built to the glory of God; New York was built to the glory of Mammon.

Cathedrals are built with pennies of the faithful. A great opera house also is a spiritual center, a temple of sorts, where many gather together for recreation, education, and inspiration - a blessed trinity worthy of public support.

Architecture immortalizes and glorifies something. Hence there can be no architecture where there is nothing to glorify.

Babies cry, make noise, go here and there. But it annoys me when a baby cries in church and there are those who say he needs to go out. The cry of a baby is God's voice: never drive them away from the church!

Some form of common worship and a common place of worship appear to be a human necessity.

What is a church?—Our honest sexton tells, 'Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.

One of the bellwether marks of the growth and vitality of the Church is the construction of temples. We will keep on working to bring the temples to the people, making it more convenient for Latter day Saints everywhere to receive the blessings which can only be had in these holy houses.

Everything that occurs in the temple is uplifting and ennobling. It speaks of life here and life beyond the grave. It speaks of the importance of the individual as a child of God. It speaks of the importance of the family and the eternity of the marriage relationship.

If I die tomorrow or in a year, it is the same — it is the message you leave behind you that counts.