The Christian ethic played an essential part in my upbringing.

Whatever you do, if you do it hard enough you'll enjoy it. The important thing is to work and work hard.

I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.

I am convinced that material things can contribute a lot to making one's life pleasant, but, basically, if you do not have very good friends and relatives who matter to you, life will be really empty and sad and material things cease to be important.

Only once in my life was I on the edge of incivility. I do not like to be unkind.

We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the current economic recession, which is particularly powerful in New York City, have put a number of building plans on hold for the time being.