We cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we also make the world safe for diversity.
Aga Khan IVNone of these situations are identical. You cannot take one set of issues from one country and apply it to another. They are all different, in terms of history, and the religious compositions of the populations involved.
Aga Khan IVThe Aga Khan Award for Architecture seeks to make a better place in physical terms. This means trying to bring values into environments, buildings, and contexts that improve the quality of life for future generations.
Aga Khan IVThere is nothing wrong with being well off as long as money has a social and ethical value and is not the object of one's own greed.
Aga Khan IVWe try to avoid the single-building syndrome. You have to look at the big picture. If you try to put social and cultural development ahead of economic development, it doesnโt work. You have to do it all together.
Aga Khan IVThere are those... who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot. Unless these unfortunates can be touched with the spark which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink back into renewed apathy, degradation and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.
Aga Khan IV