Robert A. M. Stern

“I believe that architecture is a public art, and I try to make it available and accessible to everyone.”

“I'm a modernist, but I'm a modernist of a particular stripe. I'm a modernist who is interested in the past.”

“We are not interested in a 'style' but in a way of thinking about building.”

“Drawing is the first language of the architect.”

“Preservation is not about freezing a building in time, but about finding a way for it to live in the present.”

“The dialogue between client and architect is about as intimate as any conversation you can have, because when you're talking about building a house, you're talking about dreams.”

“Architecture is a continuing dialogue between generations that is carried on across time.”

“To be an architect is to have an opportunity to design a world that is a little more humane, a little more responsive to the needs of the people who will use it.”

“You have to be a bit of a historian to be a good architect.”

“A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasurable.”

“Buildings are not just objects; they are places. And places are about people.”

“The search for a new architecture is as old as architecture itself.”

“Cities are the greatest achievements of humanity.”

“The modern architect, it is said, has to be a little of everything: a sociologist, an engineer, a psychologist, an artist, a politician, a businessman, and a lawyer.”