“I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me.”
Architecture
“Some of your teachers are actually closer in age to you than you think.”
AgeAll Quotes by Maya Lin
“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“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 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“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“Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don't want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist.”
Architecture“The role of art in society differs for every artist.”
Society“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 left science, then I went into art, but I approach things very analytically. I choose to pursue both art and architecture as completely separate fields rather than merging them.”
Architecture“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“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“You should be having more fun in high school, exploring things because you want to explore them and learning because you love learning-not worrying about competition.”
Learning“Some of your teachers are actually closer in age to you than you think.”
Age“It's funny, as you live through something you're not aware of it.”
Funny“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“When I was building the Vietnam Memorial, I never once asked the veterans what it was like in the war, because from my point of view, you don't pry into other people's business.”
Business“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“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“I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.”
Architecture