Philip Johnson Art Quotations

Architecture is art, nothing else.

How does an artist know when the line that he just painted is good or not good? That's the catch. De Kooning was the greatest of my contemporaries in art, and he knew when he'd done a good line. When he didn't, he threw it away. I wish I'd thrown away some of mine.

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

I like the thought that what we are to do on this earth is embellish it for its greater beauty, so that oncoming generations can look back to the shapes we leave here and get the same thrill that I get in looking back at theirs - at the Parthenon, at Chartres Cathedral.

Architecture is basically the design of interiors, the art of organizing interior space.

I wouldn't build a building if it wasn't of interest to me as a potential work of art. Why should I?

When a building is as good as that one, f#*@ the art.

There's only one reason for my whole life, and that's art. Nothing else counts; nothing else gives me pleasure; nothing else gives me satisfaction.

If we start watering down the patent system... I'm worried about the future of our country. Beware of what you ask for, you might get it.