No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius.

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.

My house is my refuge, an emotional piece of architecture, not a cold piece of convenience.

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

I've just concluded - since President Obama endorses the same-sex marriage, advocates homosexual people, and enjoys an attractive countenance - thus if it becomes necessary, I shall travel to Washington, D.C., get down on my knee, and ask his hand.

The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.

Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.

Regarding marriage, it - somehow, it didn't happen. One fellow in such a big family not getting married is not an issue.

Friendship is two-sided. It isn't a friend just because someone's doing something nice for you. That's a nice person. There's friendship when you do for each other. It's like marriage - it's two-sided.

My dad's not here, but he's watching in heaven.

Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.

In fair weather prepare for foul.

There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.

Common sense is not so common.

Work isn't to make money; you work to justify life.

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

If not me, who? And if not now, when?

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.

Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.

The knives of jealousy are honed on details.

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.

I have no way of knowing how people really feel, but the vast majority of those I meet couldn't be nicer. Every once in a while someone barks at me. My New Year's resolution is not to bark back.