When I was building the Vietnam Memorial, I never once asked the veterans what it was like in the war, because from my point of view, you don't pry into other people's business.

I like to think of my work as creating a private conversation with each person, no matter how public each work is and no matter how many people are present

You should be having more fun in high school, exploring things because you want to explore them and learning because you love learning-not worrying about competition.

I was probably the first kid in my high school to go to Yale. I applied almost as a lark. Then, when I got there, I was the dumbest person in your class.

You have to let the viewers come away with their own conclusions. If you dictate what they should think, you've lost it.

When I was very little, we would get letters from China, in Chinese, and they' be censored. We were a very insular little family.

My dad was dean of fine arts at the university. I was casting bronzes in the school foundry. I was using the university as a playground.