Whit Stillman Quotes

I really don’t make history; I preserve it.

It is for all these buildings, therefore, of all times and styles, that we plead, and call upon those who have to deal with them to put Protection in the place of Restoration, to stave off decay by daily care, to prop a perilous wall or mend a leaky roof by such means as are obviously meant for support or covering, and show no pretence of other art, and otherwise to resist all tampering with either the fabric or ornament of the building as it stands; if it has become inconvenient for its present use, to raise another building rather than alter or enlarge the old one; in fine to treat our ancient buildings as monuments of a bygone art, created by bygone manners, that modern art cannot meddle with without destroying.

What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away.

There's something very special about seeing history so clearly in front of you through that architecture that you just don't get in the U.S. If I was asked to choose where I'd most like to live, I would always choose London.

Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.

The desire to restore everything indiscriminately to its ancient condition is neither wise nor praiseworthy.

History takes time... History makes memory.

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

You can't build a future if you don't have a past.

History is the ship carrying living memories to the future.

Just as a tree without roots is dead, a people without history or cultural roots also becomes a dead people.

What we've inherited from our ancestors has never existed to this extent before. And if we fail to preserve it, it will never, ever exist again. So we cannot fail.

I guess that anything we manage to save from history is a miracle.

The ruins proclaim the building was beautiful.

If we do not honor our past, we lose our future. If we destroy our roots, we cannot grow.

Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.

In Lagos there's a really strong case to resurrect strong parts. Embedded in all of it are some amazing pieces of planning, amazing pieces of engineering and interaction. For instance, the campus of Lagos University is stunningly beautiful, efficient and generous, and that needs to be recognised and preserved.

I think history is inextricably linked to identity. If you don't know your history, if you don't know your family, who are you?

It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.

I think the history and the past we have is just an energy we've built up to do what we do now.

In Paris, there has to be a presence. History becomes the most interesting when it's compared to the present. I mean there's a whole group of people that want to build new buildings that look like old buildings.

We've got to know our history. We have to be able to bring our children to a place that they can be proud of.

I love antique architecture, so if I have any indulgences, I have owned and renovated and reconstructed a lot of old houses.

For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.

Museums are good things, places to look and absorb and learn.