“Symmetry is overrated. Overrated is symmetry.”

—  Larry Wall

[6vhq4r%24a6i@kiev.wall.org, 1998]
Usenet postings, 1998

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Symmetry is overrated. Overrated is symmetry." by Larry Wall?
Larry Wall photo
Larry Wall 294
American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl 1954

Related quotes

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe photo

“Symmetry is the aesthetics of the stupid.”

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) German architect

An early appearance is "Symmetry is the aesthetics of the little man," which appears in the 1965 book Bauen auf dem Lande (Building in the Countryside), volumes 16-17. However, the quote has also variously been attributed to Picasso, Salvatore Dali and Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Disputed
Source: "Symmetry is the aesthetics of the stupid." Mies van der Rohe (allegedly), 2018-01-21, 2017-11-12 http://falschzitate.blogspot.com/2017/11/symmetrie-ist-die-asthetik-der-dummen.html,

Tom Robbins photo

“Don't confuse symmetry with balance.”

Source: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Philip Warren Anderson photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
George Bernard Shaw photo

“Consistency is the enemy of enterprise, just as symmetry is the enemy of art.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

As quoted in Bernard Shaw : The Lure of Fantasy (1991) by Michael Holroyd
1940s and later

Kevin Kelly photo

“One of the chief chores in the next economy is to restore the symmetry of knowledge.”

Kevin Kelly (1952) American author and editor

Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World (1995), New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World (1999)

Vitruvius photo

“Architecture depends on Order, Arrangement, Eurythmy, Symmetry, Propriety, and Economy.”

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter II "The Fundamental Principles of Architecture" Sec. 1

Steven Weinberg photo
John D. Barrow photo
Blaise Pascal photo

Related topics