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It is no secret that the moon has no light of her own, but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the influence of the sun.

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

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Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
Mirror
Mirrors
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Moon
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Secret
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Receiving

More quotes by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

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Cold winds are disagreeable, hot winds enervating, moist winds unhealthy.
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Architecture is a science arising out of many other sciences, and adorned with much and varied learning by the help of which a judgment is formed of those works which are the result of other arts.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Bodies which contain a greater proportion of water than is necessary to balance the other elements, are speedily corrupted, and lose their virtues and properties.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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For we must not build temples according to the same rules to all gods alike, since the performance of the sacred rites varies with the various gods.
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In felling a tree we should cut into the trunk of it to the very heart, and then leave it standing so that the sap may drain out drop by drop throughout the whole of it... Then and not till then, the tree being drained dry and the sap no longer dripping, let it be felled and it will be in the highest state of usefulness.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Some springs are acid, as at Lyncestus and in Italy in the Velian country, at Teano in Campania, and in many other places. These when used in drinks have the power of breaking up stones in the bladder, which form in the human body.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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The construction of temples of the Ionic order to Juno, Diana, Father Bacchus, and the other gods of that kind, will be in keeping with the middle position which they hold for the building of such will be an appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of the Corinthian.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Nothing requires the architect's care more than the due proportions of buildings.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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In setting out the walls of a city the choice of a healthy situation is of the first importance: it should be on high ground, neither subject to fogs nor rains its aspects should be neither violently hot nor intensely cold, but temperate in both respects.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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In all matters but particularly in architecture, that which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking and that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific principles. One who professes himself an architect should be well versed in both directions.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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From the exterior face of the wall towers must be projected, from which an approaching enemy may be annoyed by weapons, from the embrasures of those towers, right and left.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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As for philosophy, it makes an architect high-minded and not self-assuming, but rather renders him courteous, just, and honest without avariciousness. This is very important, for no work can be rightly done without honesty and incorruptibility.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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Next I must tell about the machine of Ctesibius, which raises water to a height.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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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.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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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
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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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.
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 difference between machines and engines is obviously this, that machines need more workmen and greater power to make them take effect, as for instance ballistae and the beams of presses. Engines, on the other hand, accomplish their purpose at the intelligent touch of a single workman...
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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The design of a temple depends on symmetry, the principles of which must be most carefully observed by the architect.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio