We need to feel that life is important; we need that fantasy so we can live a little better.

I am a Brazilian before I am an architect. I cannot separate the two.

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

The challenge of a cathedral is very good for architectural inventiveness.

It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve - the curve that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the body of the beloved woman.

I had some good opportunities. I was lucky to have had the chance to do things differently. Architecture is about surprise.

There is no reason to design buildings that are more basic and rectilinear, because with concrete you can cover almost any space.