The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.

Summary

This quote reflects the difference between professions that deal with tangible mistakes and those that don't. While a physician can hide their errors by burying them, an architect cannot erase their mistakes in a physical sense. Instead, architects can only suggest a solution that helps camouflage or improve the flaw, like advising clients to plant vines to cover a building's imperfections. It contrasts the permanence of architectural errors with the impermanence of medical mistakes, highlighting the unique challenges architects face in dealing with their missteps.