“I am of those who believe that gentleness is a greater, surer power than force, and that sympathy is a safer power by far than is intellect.”

— Louis Sullivan, Education (1902), address to the Architectural League of America, Toronto

About Louis Sullivan

1856 – 1924

American architect, known as the "father of skyscrapers".

“To teach is to touch the heart and impel it to action.”

“Yet evidently the true object of education, now as ever, is to develop the capabilities of the head and of the heart.”

“We must now heed the imperative voice of emotion.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

“Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.”