Quotes from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

“Every man-made thing, be it a chair, a text, or a school, is thought made substance. It is the expression of someone's, or some groups, ideas and beliefs. The two-hundred year old double hung, six light sash window in the wall opposite my desk, out of which I am looking at this moment embodies ideas about houses and how we should live in them, tools, technologies, standards of craftsmanship, nature and much else. It is a material manifestation of the collective consciousness of its time and place channeled through the individuals who commissioned and made it".”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

“When I look at a piece of furniture from across a room, I see form, style, scale, context, and intended use. As I approach it, I distinguish material, joinery, and proportions. When I get close enough to touch it, I take in details such as hardware, textures, finish, edge treatments, wood grain, quality, and comfort.”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

“I was becoming aware that a good life was not some Shangri-La waiting to be stumbled upon. One constructed it from the materials at hand.”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

“Only as I approached adulthood did I realize that life is a process of continual becoming.”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

“there are three different contexts in which one can participate in a creative field. For shorthand, I call them the first-person, second-person, and third-person voices. You”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

“skilled manual work offered spiritual rewards to which academic institutions and my parent’s social milieu were oblivious.”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

Popular quotes

“I suppose this means you can swim after all. Or am I supposed to tow you?"
"If you really try," said Loaf, grinning, "you might not die.”
― Orson Scott Card, quote from Pathfinder

“You’ll learn one day that real apologies don’t come with a BUT in the middle.”
― Jordan Sonnenblick, quote from Notes from the Midnight Driver

“What sort of person says that he or she wants to be polished and pure, then complains about being handled roughly?”
― Rumi, quote from The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing

“We can formulate Plantinga’s version of the ontological argument as follows: 1) It is possible that a maximally great being exists. 2) If it is possible that a maximally great being exists, then a maximally great being exists in some possible world. 3) If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world. 4) If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world. 5) If a maximally great being exists in the actual world, then a maximally great being exists. 6) Therefore, a maximally great being exists.”
― William Lane Craig, quote from Reasonable Faith

“L-am cunoscut pe Ruletist. De acest lucru nu mă pot îndoi. În ciuda faptului că era imposibil ca el să existe, totuşi el a existat. Dar există un loc în lume unde imposibilul e posibil, şi anume în ficţiune, adică în literatură. Acolo legile statisticii pot fi încălcate, acolo poate apărea un om mai puternic decât hazardul. Ruletistul nu putea trăi în lume, ceea ce e un fel de a spune că lumea în care el a trăit este fictivă, este literatură. Nu am nici o îndoială, Ruletistul este un personaj. Dar atunci şi eu sunt un personaj, şi aici nu mă pot opri să nu exult de bucurie. Căci personajele nu mor niciodată, ele trăiesc de câte ori lumea lor e "citită". Dacă nu îşi va săruta niciodată iubita, păstorul pictat pe urna greacă ştie măcar că o va privi veşnic. Iată pariul şi nădejdea mea.”
― Mircea Cărtărescu, quote from Nostalgia

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.