“I think you need to, as an architect, understand the essence of a plac...” — Moshe Safdie Quote

“I think you need to, as an architect, understand the essence of a place and create a building that feels like it resonates with the culture of a place. So my buildings in India or in Kansas City or in Arkansas or in Singapore, they come out different because the places are so different.”

“I have a passion for libraries. They are potentially real community centers.”

“I want my buildings to take root and look as if they've always been there. It isn't about pastiche or adapting what's already there. It's about trying to blend the future and the past.”

“Who knows, maybe I am simply a talented architect?”

“I try firstly to make buildings humane.”

“I'm completely taken and impressed by the planning authority of Singapore and its Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). It's the most cutting-edge agency in the world. They have very effective guidelines for development, and they review design as it evolves.”

“I remember talking to an architect and he said 'I am making so much money I don't know what to do' - I am in a business where you don't have an idea from one end of the year to the next how what you are going to earn and it is not like a salary that you can guarantee.”

“The architect works in the territory of memory.”

“If you were a son of mine, I wouldn't want you to be an architect, because it's a tough way to be in the world.”

“For one who feels compelled, as I do, to accept the existence of the Master Architect, it is important to examine his handiwork for the light it throws on him and on his program for his children. For me, there has been no serious difficulty in reconciling the principles of true science with the principles of true religion.”

“Have you ever heard of a pianist who never had to practice - or of an architect who didn't bother to find out why buildings stand up?”

“Hawks is great, 'The Treasure of Sierra Madre,' 'The Big Sleep'... He could do the Salt-of-the-Earth very well. He was a very smooth director; a very good film architect in terms of his storytelling.”