"I see architecture not as Gropius did, as a moral venture, as truth, but as invention, in the same way that poetry or music or painting is invention."

Character

Create & Download Quote Graphic

Customize Image

1. Canvas Aspect Ratio

2. Palette Theme

Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Character as articulated by Michael Graves. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Character provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

Explore all Character quotes → Browse all wisdom by Michael Graves →

About Michael Graves

Michael Graves was an American architect, designer, and educator, and principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Group and a professor of architecture at Princeton University for nearly forty years. Following his own partial paralysis in 2003, Graves became an internationally recognized advocate of health care design.

View all quotes by Michael Graves →
Editorial Integrity: Curated and fact-checked under our Editorial Standards to eliminate misattributions and preserve historical authenticity.
Learn about our methodology →

More by Michael Graves

"I have no requirements for a style of architecture."

— Michael Graves
Read more →

"The dialogue of architecture has been centered too long around the idea of truth."

— Michael Graves
Read more →

"In any architecture, there is an equity between the pragmatic function and the symbolic function."

— Michael Graves
Read more →

"It was always my goal to 'up the ante' on good design and rye devoted much of my career to this."

— Michael Graves
Read more →

More about Character

"You get a sense of how the show works and then let your personality take over."

— Adam Baldwin
Read more →

"Character is what a man is in the dark."

— Dwight L. Moody
Read more →

"I've always remembered something Sanford Meisner, my acting teacher, told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of making someting out of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft - using yourself to create a character."

— Robert Duvall
Read more →

"By the fulfillment of my legal and moral duty I think I have earned punishment just as little as the tens of thousands of dutiful German officials who have now been imprisoned only because they carried out their duties."

— Wilhelm Frick
Read more →
Browse all Character quotes →