“The tubular steel chair is surely rational from technical and construc...” — Alvar Aalto Quote

“The tubular steel chair is surely rational from technical and constructive points of view. It is light, suitable for mass production, and so on. But steel and chromium surfaces are not satisfactory from the human point of view.”

“The most difficult problems are naturally not involved in the search for forms for contemporary life. It is a question of working our way to forms behind which real human values lie.”

“Just as it takes time for a speck of fish spawn to develop into a fully grown fish, so, too, we need time for everything that develops and crystallizes in the world of ideas. Architecture demands more of this time than other creative work.”

“When I was writing for children, I was writing genre fiction. It was like making a good chair. It needed four legs of the same length, it had to be the right height and it had to be comfortable.”

“I remember watching Cilla Black with my mum and dad - I must have been about six years old - and getting off the chair, going over to the TV screen and kissing her. I was sitting with Cilla once and I told her that and she laughed.”

“You shouldn't have to be a chair at a think tank to speak your mind.”