“To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.”
Freedom
“It was a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. We're reaching a time that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level.”
WarAll Quotes by Maya Lin
“It was a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. We're reaching a time that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level.”
War“Warmth isn't what minimalists are thought to have.”
Architecture“I really enjoyed hanging out with some of the teachers. This one chemistry teacher, she liked hanging out. I liked making explosives. We would stay after school and blow things up.”
Teacher“It's funny, as you live through something you're not aware of it.”
Funny“If we can't face death, we'll never overcome it. You have to look it straight in the eye. Then you can turn around and walk back out into the light.”
Death“Some of your teachers are actually closer in age to you than you think.”
Age“I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.”
Architecture“In art or architecture your project is only done when you say it's done. If you want to rip it apart at the eleventh hour and start all over again, you never finish. I was one of those crazy creatures.”
Architecture“I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was.”
Politics“How we are using up our home, how we are living and polluting the planet is frightening. It was evident when I was a child. It's more evident now.”
Home“The role of art in society differs for every artist.”
Society“I probably spent the first 20 years of my life wanting to be as American as possible. Through my 20s, and into my 30s, I began to become aware of how so much of my art and architecture has a decidedly Eastern character.”
Architecture“The process I go through in the art and the architecture, I actually want it to be almost childlike. Sometimes I think it's magical.”
Architecture“The definition of a modern approach to war is the acknowledgement of individual lives lost.”
War“When I was very little, we would get letters from China, in Chinese, and they' be censored. We were a very insular little family.”
Family“My dad was dean of fine arts at the university. I was casting bronzes in the school foundry. I was using the university as a playground.”
Dad“I started studying what the nature of a monument is and what a monument should be. And for the World War III memorial I designed a futile, almost terrifying passage that ends nowhere.”
War“I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me.”
Architecture“Art is very tricky because it's what you do for yourself. It's much harder for me to make those works than the monuments or the architecture.”
Architecture