“I had lots of trouble in school as a child, and I lost confidence. Tea...” — Richard Rogers Quote

I had lots of trouble in school as a child, and I lost confidence. Teachers thought I was stupid. I learned to read very late, when I was 11. Dyslexia wasn't recognized then, and the assumption was you were incapable of thinking.

My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we - architects - can effect the quality of life of the people.

In Florence, classical buildings sit against medieval buildings. It's that contrast we like.

Cities are about juxtaposition.

I believe very much in a dialogue between buildings - I believe it's always been there. I think buildings have different identities and live very well next to each other. We always have the shock of the new, and that's fine. The renaissance style is totally different from the medieval, and they have a dialogue across time.

There's this whole assumption that girls like bad boys, but I have to disagree; I think 'nice' will go a long way.

Anyone who doesn't think that hip-hop is an intellectual genre, I think that assumption is rooted in racism.

I've been worked over by the English press because there's an assumption that my politics are identical with my wife's, and for that matter that my wife's politics are identical with her politics of 20 years ago.

With us city girls, there is an assumption that we have the space to raise our voice.

Now, I know it's a widespread assumption in the West that as countries modernize, they also westernize. This is an illusion. It's an assumption that modernity is a product simply of competition, markets and technology. It is not. It is also shaped equally by history and culture. China is not like the West, and it will not become like the West.