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I. M. Pei Quotes


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Quotes by I. M. Pei

Showing 1-10 of 22 Quotes by I. M. Pei

We had a lot of difficulty in getting the French to accept the pyramid. They thought we were trying to import a piece of Egypt until I pointed out that their obelisk was also from Egypt and the Place des Pyramides is around the corner. Then they accepted it. The pyramid at the Louvre, though, is just the tip.

~I. M. Pei

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A lasting architecture has to have roots.

~I. M. Pei

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To me, form doesn't always follow function. Form has a life of its own, and at times, it may be the motivating force in design. When you're dealing with form as a sculptor, you feel that you are quite free in attempting to mould and shape things you want to do, but in architecture, it's much more difficult because it has to have a function.

~I. M. Pei

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I'd been going to the Louvre since 1951. I thought I knew Paris and the French, but I didn't really. You know how easy it is to make friends when you are traveling. People are curious about you, you are curious about them. But you never really make friends that way. After the Louvre, I discovered that I have friends now because I have enemies.

~I. M. Pei

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The Pyramids are perfect, but you can't put the Pyramids in the middle of Manhattan. In the desert, the combination of light and form makes it perfect.

~I. M. Pei

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A city, far from being a cluster of buildings, is actually a sequence of spaces enclosed and defined by buildings.

~I. M. Pei

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I liked the America of Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton - it was all a dream, of course, but a very alluring dream for a young man from Canton.

~I. M. Pei

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It is good to learn from the ancients. I'm a bit of an ancient myself. They had a lot of time to think about architecture and landscape.

~I. M. Pei

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Modern architecture needed to be part of an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, process.

~I. M. Pei

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The essence of architecture is form and space, and light is the essential element to the key to architectural design, probably more important than anything. Technology and materials are secondary.

~I. M. Pei

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Architect

Born: April 26th, 1917

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