Pei Architect Quotes

Stop worrying about missed opportunities and start looking for new ones.

Great artists need great clients.

I want to bring out the best in a community and contribute something of permanent value.

Let's do it right. This is for the ages.

Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history but it’s not very deep. I understand that time has changed, we have evolved. But I don’t want to forget the beginning. A lasting architecture has to have roots.

No foreign architect of stature, such as I. M. Pei, resides in Japan. Foreign architects come to Japan on short-term contracts, erect a skyscraper or a museum, and then leave. But subtle and sophisticated approaches to services and design—the core elements of modern building technology—cannot be transmitted in this way. Japan is left with the empty shells of architectural ideas, the hardware without the software.

Be the best, not necessarily the original.