Folly

Folly

In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs. In the original use of the word, these buildings had no other use, but from the 19th to 20th centuries the term was also applied to highly decorative buildings which had secondary practical functions such as housing, sheltering or business use.

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Famous quotes containing the word folly:

    “As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.”
    —William James (1842–1910)

    “It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom.”
    —Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

    “If one gives answer before hearing, it is folly and shame.”
    —Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 18:13.