But lo! men have become the tools of their tools. The man who independently plucked the fruits when he was hungry is become a farmer; and he who stood under a tree for shelter, a housekeeper. We no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven.
We have adopted Christianity merely as an improved method of agriculture. We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb.
— Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) “Walden”
I well recall — it was my second day in London — a prominent designer offering me a bit of advice that I have never forgotten.
“Whenever you design furniture,” he said, “pin your faith on proportion and accuracy of detail. Do not trouble about decoration; keep that subsidiary; the first thing is repose.”
And he was surely right?
If we carefully analyze our own likes and dislikes, we will find that what appeals first is the graceful proportion of the article we are viewing. The question of style does not here arise. The piece may be a Jacobean sideboard on fairly heavy lines, or it may be a Sheraton table with thin tapering legs; if the proportion is good and the detail is correct it cannot fail to attract.
— The Woodworker, October 1925
We can improve our own taste and judgment by studying good work wherever we find it, in shop windows, exhibitions, museums, or illustrated in the pages of books, just as we can improve our own skill by thoughtful, intelligent practice and in taking instruction in whatever direction we may need it.
For there is so much to be done, there are going to be so many busy years ahead for all of us, that the man who is ready to plan and work now to achieve later the thing he longs for, whether it is a small business or a beautifully equipped home of his own, is the man who will be equal to the hour when it comes.
— The Woodworker, January 1947
Gandhi and his spinning wheel were more quixotic than realistic. A power plane can do in a few minutes what might require a day or more by hand. In a creative craft, it becomes a question of responsibility, whether it is the man or the machine that control’s the work’s progress.
— George Nakashima, “The Soul of a Tree,” page 125
“Joiner’s work is noisy, and they can’t talk while carrying it on, and that may account for joiners not being such politicians or thinkers as shoe-makers or tailors.”
— A London joiner with 21 years of experience, quoted by Henry Mayhew, The Morning Chronicle, July 11, 1850