When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together.

The words of Tadao Ando, “When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together,” reveal the sacred union between thought and action. In them lies the reminder that creation is not born from the mind alone, nor from the body in isolation, but from the harmony of both. The brain conceives, the hands manifest, and together they give form to what once was invisible.

This saying teaches us that to draw is more than to place lines upon paper—it is to bridge the inner world and the outer one. When the brain envisions, it holds only potential, but when the hands move, potential becomes reality. The union of the two is the essence of craftsmanship, the eternal rhythm where imagination and labor walk hand in hand.

The origin of these words rests in Ando’s own life as an architect, a master who gave birth to forms that seem both earthly and divine. Through his discipline, he learned that architecture, like all art, demands this union: the clarity of thought to dream, and the discipline of the hands to shape. His words carry the distilled wisdom of a life where mind and body together served the spirit of creation.

Let this lesson endure: never let thought remain idle, nor labor be without vision. For the brain without the hands is a bird without wings, and the hands without the brain are a ship without a compass. But when both work together, they awaken the power to shape worlds, to craft beauty, and to leave behind works that whisper to generations yet unborn. Thus does Ando remind us that creation is born not of one, but of the union of many within ourselves.