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In the midst of all this great variety of subjects, an individual cannot attain to perfection in each, because it is scarcely in his power to take in and comprehend the general theories of them.

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

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Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
Cannot
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Great
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General
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Scarcely
Theory
Comprehend
Individual
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An architect ought to be an educated man so as to leave a more lasting remembrance in his treatises.
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Architects should be educated, skillful with the pencil, instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed the philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of the heavens
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Harmony is an obscure and difficult musical science, but most difficult to those who are not acquainted with the Greek language because it is necessary to use many Greek words to which there are none corresponding in Latin.
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Basilicas should be constructed on a site adjoining the forum and in the warmest possible quarter, so that in winter business men may gather in them without being troubled by the weather.
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Next I must tell about the machine of Ctesibius, which raises water to a height.
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Consistency is found in that work whose whole and detail are suitable to the occasion. It arises from circumstance, custom, and nature.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Oak... lasts for an unlimited period when buried in underground structures... when exposed to moisture... it cannot take in liquid on account of its compactness, but, withdrawing from the moisture, it resists it and warps, thus making cracks.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Beauty is produced by the pleasing appearance and good taste of the whole, and by the dimensions of all the parts being duly proportioned to each other.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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There are also in some places springs which have the peculiarity of giving fine singing voices to the natives, as at Tarsus in Magnesia and in other countries of that kind.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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The third order, called Corinthian, is an imitation of the slenderness of a maiden for the outlines and limbs of maidens, being more slender on account of their tender years, admit of prettier effects in the way of adornment.
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Noting all these things with the great delight which learning gives, we cannot but be stirred by these discoveries when we reflect upon the influence of them one by one.
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The proper form of economy must be observed in building houses for each and every class.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Nothing suffers annihilation, but at dissolution there is a change, and things fall back to the essential element in which they were before.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Bricks should be made in Spring or Autumn so that they may dry uniformly.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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The [engineer] should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of practice and theory.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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It was a wise and useful provision of the ancients to transmit their thoughts to posterity by recording them in treatises, so that they should not be lost, but, being developed in succeeding generations through publications in books, should gradually attain in later times, to the highest refinement of learning.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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There will be no propriety in the spectacle of an elegant interior approached by a low mean entrance.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Philosophy treats of physics where a more careful knowledge is required because the problems which come under this head are numerous... So the reader of Ctesibius or Archimedes and the other writers of treatises of the same class will not be able to appreciate them unless he has been trained in these subjects by the philosophers.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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A liberal education forms a single body. Those, therefore, who from tender years receive instruction in the various forms of learning, recognize the same stamp on all the arts, and an intercourse between all studies, and so they more readily comprehend them all.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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The stone in quarries is found to be of different and unlike qualities. In some it is soft, in others it is medium, in still others it is hard as in lava quarries. There are also numerous other kinds: for instance, in Campania, red and black tufas in Umbria, Picenum, and Venetia, white tufa which can be cut with a toothed saw like wood.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio