“The majesty of nature depends upon the force of the human spirit.”

“It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled.”

“Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.”

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.”

“Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive energy, full of expression, passion, and strength.”

“An architect should live as little in cities as a painter. Send him to our hills, and let him study there what nature understands by a buttress, and what by a dome.”

“The greatest thing a human being ever does in this world is to see something... To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.”