32 Quotes by Cesar Pelli

One of America’s strengths has always been its openness to the new: both new ideas and new people.

I always look forward to the next project. That is one of the wonderful things about architecture – you always can hope for another project to design.

There may be some changes in building codes, but I don’t see any stylistic departure that you’ll be able to attribute to Sept. 11.

People get very excited about very high elements. That's why Mount Everest is so important - it's not the most difficult mountain, but it's the most famous because it's the tallest.

I'm a very good listener, and I'm not interested in having fights simply for a question of protocol or vanity.

We try to respond as closely as we can to the nature of each city, to the traditions, to their expectations. I don't believe that architects should be imposing their style or their plans on every city in the world.

Too many architects are just trying to make all of their buildings look like a brand, and that may be good for business, but that is terrible for the cities because they lose character. If I go to Paris, I go to see the beauty of Paris and the coherence of Paris.

I had come from Los Angeles - I had been there a partner of Gruen Associates, a large Los Angeles firm - and when the possibility of becoming a dean at Yale came, it was a very appropriate moment in my life. I was interested in a number of issues that I could not pursue while in a firm like Gruen's.

I'm particularly interested in the public role that all buildings play. I believe that we architects should try to go beyond our basic obligations to the public, and our opportunities to do so are many.