Daniel Burnham
I was wondering who said, "Make no small plans," then I realized it was actually,
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence."
-Daniel Burnham, 1910
I really love this quote. It's inspirational, relevant, and bold. It has gotten me to look into Daniel Burnham's life and works more and more. The wikipedia is always a good start.
3 comments:
I had always thought the "make no small plans" dictum came straight from Burnham.
Actually, it's from Machiavelli: "Make no small plans, for they have no power to strit the soul."
I worked at Time Incorporated's Architectural Forum circa 1949 - 1960. Walter McQuade, my editor, had large print of Burnham's "Make no small plans ....over his desk. I seem to remember that version continued,"They have no magic to move men's souls. Remember our children will do things that would astound us..."
Of course, in addition to Machiavelli, there was also Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who said,
"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men."
Burnham's axiom has largely been abandoned by contemporary urban planners in practice, replaced instead by the theory of "muddling through" and incremental, piecemeal, planning. Sure, if the bits are planned well, they create a whole picture which is greater than its parts, but without the "grand plan" or "vision", the result is bits of the picture in a hole.
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