“Bricks… should not be made of sandy or pebbly clay, or of fine gravel”
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter III "Brick" Sec. 1
Context: Bricks... should not be made of sandy or pebbly clay, or of fine gravel, because when made of these kinds they are in the first place heavy; and secondly when washed by the rain as they stand in walls, they go to pieces and break up, and the straw in them does not hold together on account of the roughness of the material. They should rather be made of white and chalky or of red clay, or even of a coarse grained gravelly clay. These materials are smooth and therefore durable; they are not heavy to work with, and are readily laid.
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Vitruvius 203
Roman writer, architect and engineer -80–-15 BCRelated quotes
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter III "Brick" Sec. 1
Context: Bricks... should not be made of sandy or pebbly clay, or of fine gravel, because when made of these kinds they are in the first place heavy; and secondly when washed by the rain as they stand in walls, they go to pieces and break up, and the straw in them does not hold together on account of the roughness of the material. They should rather be made of white and chalky or of red clay, or even of a coarse grained gravelly clay. These materials are smooth and therefore durable; they are not heavy to work with, and are readily laid.
“No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.”
Of Fortune
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter VIII, Sec. 19
“Bricks should be made in Spring or Autumn so that they may dry uniformly.”
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter III, Sec. 2
“Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay.”
Source: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
“A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.”
Part 1, LXXIV
Meditations of a Parish Priest (1866)
“And where may hide what came and loved our clay? as the Poet asked finely.”
Page 223; the poet being Robert Browning in Epilogue in his collection of poems Dramatis Personae.
Possession (1990)
Aurangzeb's order in Orissa recorded by Muraqat-i-Abul Hasan, completed in 1670. Bengal and Orissa . Muraqat-i-AbuI Hasan by Maulana Abul Hasa, quoted in Sarkar, Jadu Nath, History of Aurangzeb,Volume III, Calcutta, 1972 Impression. p. 187 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.62677/page/n297,also in Last Spring: The Lives and Times of Great Mughals https://books.google.com/books?id=vyVW0STaGBcC&pg=PT495 by Abraham Eraly. also in Northern India, 1658-1681 by Jadunath Sarkar p. 187 also in The Panjab Past and Present, Volume 9 [Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University, 1975], p. 105
Quotes from late medieval histories, 1670s
Context: Order issued on all faujdars of thanas, civil officers (mutasaddis), agents of jagirdars, kroris, and amlas from Katak to Medinipur on the frontier of Orissa:- The imperial paymaster Asad Khan has sent a letter written by order of the Emperor, to say, that the Emperor learning from the newsletters of the province of Orissa that at the village of Tilkuti in Medinipur a temple has been (newly) built, has issued his august mandate for its destruction, and the destruction of all temples built anywhere in this province by the worthless infidels. Therefore, you are commanded with extreme urgency that immediately on the receipt of this letter you should destroy the above-mentioned temples. Every idol-house built during the last 10 or 12 years, whether with brick or clay, should be demolished without delay. Also, do not allow the crushed Hindus and despicable infidels to repair their old temples. Reports of the destruction of temples should be sent to the Court under the seal of the qazis and attested by pious Shaikhs.
Letter to Charles Warren Stoddard (11 August 1905)