The most beautiful house in the world is the one that you build for yourself.

While cities are distinguished by their architecture and physical appearance, Bell and de-Shalit make a compelling case that many major world cities--and their inhabitants--also express their own distinctive ethos or values. The Spirit of Cities takes the reader on a wide-ranging and lively personal journey.

Television watching should more properly be called television staring it engages eye and ear simultaneously in a relentless and persistent way and leaves no room for daydreaming. This is what makes watching such an inferior form of leisure

For where else, if not in the home, can we let our imagination wander?

You could walk out of the house, but you always returned home.

There are scores of books offering 'solutions' to sprawl. Their authors would do well to read this book.

Architecture is an applied art, founded not on theories but on practice.