"Ornament is Crime."

—Fin-de-siècle enfant terrible, Adolf Loos, penned this no-nonsense declaration as an obvious reaction to turn-of-the-century excess. The following variations-on-a-theme are taken from his book entitled, Decoration and Crime, 1908.

"Cultural evolution is equivalent to the removal of ornament from articles in daily use."

—Anonymous

"Ornamentation as a rule makes the product more expensive."

—Anonymous

"Lack of ornamentation leads to a decrease in production time and a raise in wages."

—Anonymous

"Ornament is wasted work effort and therefore wasted wealth."

—Anonymous