The rule is the worst thing. You just want to break it.

The architect's role is to fight for a better world, where he can produce an architecture that serves everyone and not just a group of privileged people.

I pick up my pen. It flows. A building appears. There it is. There is nothing more to say.

My ambition has always been to reduce a building's support to a minimum. The more we diminish supporting structures, the more audacious and important the architecture is. That has been my life's work.

Life is very fleeting. It’s important to be gentle and optimistic. We look behind and think what we’ve done in this life has been good. It was simple; it was modest. Everyone creates their own story and moves on. That’s it. I don’t feel particularly important. What we create is not important. We’re very insignificant.

Sometimes I lose a whole morning waiting on journalists and other people who look for me. But I always find some time for reading, talking to my friends and feeling what is happening in this world.

Curves are the essence of my work because they are the essence of Brazil, pure and simple.