People are surprised at how down-to-earth I am. I like to stay home on Friday nights and listen to 'The Art of Happiness' by the Dalai Lama.

I search for surprise in my architecture. A work of art should cause the emotion of newness.

It was amazing that a play that seems dated in this world... A man whose best friend is a six-foot white rabbit... But it caught on especially with young people - they surprised me most of all.

I like what I see now in China but I think the Japanese are a step ahead into craziness and weirdness. I go to galleries there that are the size of a New York elevator and every time I'm surprised by the amazing things I find. I really hope I'll be able to promote some of these artists to show their work in the West.

Try as hard as we may for perfection the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways.

It is amazing that something I did 23 years ago still has an audience that people respond to and I am touched and surprised that people are still very positive about.

And it is very sexy as well: somebody says I'm taking you on a surprise date you don't know where you are going and you can't see and then you put your hand out and there is a tiger. Amazing.

I thought after the Pulitzer at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.

You can't be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning: 'Holy Christ whaddya know - I'm still around!' It's absolutely amazing that I survived all the booze and smoking and the cars and the career.

Well I was already so happy being chosen to do the issue itself that when I got on the cover it was even more of a surprise and even more amazing to me.