I saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial not as an object placed into the earth but as a cut in the earth that has then been polished, like a geode. Interest in the land and concern about how we are polluting the air and water of the planet are what make me want to travel back in geologic time-to witness the shaping of the earth before man.

Sometimes I think creativity is magic; it's not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you.

I also wanted remembering the past relevant to the present. Some people wanted me to put the names in alphabetical order. I wanted them in chronological order so that a veteran could find his time within the panel. It's like a thread of life.

war is not just a victory or loss ... People die.

If we can't face death, we'll never overcome it. You have to look it straight in the eye. Then you can turn around and walk back out into the light.

It's only in hindsight that you realize what indeed your childhood was really like.

The only thing that mattered was what you were to do in life, and it wasn't about money. It was about teaching, or learning.