A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.

Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation.

You begin with the possibilities of the material.

Every other artist begins with a blank canvas a piece of paper the photographer begins with the finished product.

Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Escape from the architecture ghetto is one of the major drivers and has been from the very beginning.

I see the Beijing National Stadium as an architectural project. I accepted Herzog and De Meuron's invitation to collaborate on the design and our proposal won the competition. From beginning to end I stayed with the project. I am committed to fostering relationships between a city and its architecture.

The way of architecture is the quiet voice that underlies it and has guided it from the beginning.

The art of dancing stands at the source of all the arts that express themselves first in the human person. The art of building or architecture is the beginning of all the arts that lie outside the person and in the end they unite.