10 Quotes by Samuel Mockbee

Take something ordinary and elevate it to something extraordinary.

Everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul, architects should lead in procuring social and environmental change.

Theory and practice are not only interwoven with one’s culture but with the responsibility of shaping the environment, of breaking up social complacency, and challenging the power of the status quo.

It’s not about your greatness as an architect, but your compassion.

The meaning resides in one’s own experience, making the everyday the exceptional.

Architecture has to be greater than just architecture. It has to address social values, as well as technical and aesthetic values. On top of that, the one true gift that an architect has is his or her imagination. We take something ordinary and elevate it to something extraordinary.

The Goal is not to have a warm, dry house, but to have a warm, dry house with a spirit to it.

The hand expresses what the heart already knows.

I tell my students, it’s got to be warm, dry, and noble.