Welcome to On Verticality. This blog explores the innate human need to escape the surface of the earth, and our struggles to do so throughout history. If you’re new here, a good place to start is the Theory of Verticality section or the Introduction to Verticality. If you want to receive updates on what’s new with the blog, you can use the Subscribe page to sign up. Thanks for visiting!
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“You can tell what’s informing a society by what the tallest building is ... when you approach a modern city, the tallest places are the office buildings, the centres of economic life."
-Joseph Campbell, American literature professor and author, 1904-1987
"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards."
-Fred Hoyle, British astronomer, 1915-2001
"The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who ... looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space ... on the infinite highway of the air."
-Wilbur Wright, inventor and aviation pioneer, 1867-1912
"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."
-Vincent van Gogh, Dutch impressionist painter, 1853-1890
"The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the world with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang."
-Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter and inventor, 1452-1519
"Man must rise above the Earth, to the top of the atmosphere and beyond, for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives."
-Attributed to Socrates, classical Greek philosopher, circa 470-399 BC
"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
-Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter and inventor, 1452-1519