Symbol and metaphor are as much a part of the architectural vocabulary as stone and steel.

The art of decoration requires the most sophisticated and self-indulgent skills. Its aim has always been to sate the senses as gloriously as possible. ... ornament is not only a source of sensuous pleasure; it supplies a necessary kind of magic to people and places that lack it. More than just a dread of empty spaces has led to the urge to decorate; it is the fear of empty selves.

The building is a national tragedy - a cross between a concrete candy box and a marble sarcophagus in which the art of architecture lies buried.

Every generation tailors history to its taste.

Embellishment is an irresistible and consuming impulse, going back to the beginnings of human history. ... Probably the strongest motivating force is the simplest: the inability of almost everyone to ever leave well enough alone.

It is the rare architect who does not hope in his heart to design a great building and for whom the quest is not a quiet, consuming passion.

New York, thy name is irreverence and hyperbole. And grandeur.