Peter Eisenman

“I am immersed in architecture all day, working in my office or teaching.”

“I am very different as a parent to new kids. My work changed from being rooted in the sky to being rooted in the earth.”

“Architects design houses. I live in a home.”

“I didn't know I was Jewish until I encountered anti-Semitism at the age of 10, when my best friend told me I couldn't come to their house because I was a Jew.”

“My father went to Rutgers, and I grew up in New Jersey, so I'm a great Rutgers fan. I have season tickets.”

“I was in Jungian analysis for 20 years, 1976-96.”

“There's no such thing as an absolute openness. Openness is relative, I think, in all societies.”

“I would never live in anything I design. Life and art are different. My life is very precious to me - my art is precious to me. I love designing things for other people, but I don't like designing things for myself.”

“I don't know how to use appliances. I mean, I use the coffee maker. But that's it.”

“The more centralized the power, the less compromises need to be made in architecture.”

“I really don't even think of myself as being Jewish except when I'm in Germany.”

“I'm not a fashion architect. I don't dress in Ralph Lauren and Gucci. When I buy a suit, I buy it at J. Press. I have a blue blazer that I wear 80 percent of the time.”

“I truly believe that the great heroes that create the history of architecture are people who take risks and write to tell about it.”

“The guy who sits in front of the TV set with headphones on has lost the capacity to react to the tactile environment.”

“Conservation destroys the present. If we are only busy preserving the past, we are not living in the present and unable to look forward. I am against conservation. We should let young people move forward, whether we agree with them or not. We should let new things happen.”

“I don't believe that classical architecture is enough to engage people anymore. They say: 'So what else is new?'”

“I don't design houses with the nuclear family idea because I don't believe in it as a concept.”

“In New York, a Jew is a Jew, an Italian is an Italian, a Muslim is a Muslim: Nobody's going out of his way to treat you in a special way.”

“I'm a Larry David fan, right? And it seems to me that Jewish history from the Talmud on has been a self-deprecating, self-critical kind of humor.”

“Architecture is definitely a political act.”