Oscar Niemeyer Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• Architecture was my way of expressing my ideals: to be simple, to create a world equal to everyone, to look at people with optimism, that everyone has a gift. I don’t want anything but general happiness. Why is that bad?

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Simple, People, Optimism

  "Why Oscar Niemeyer is king of curves" by Tom Dyckhoff, www.thetimes.co.uk. December 12, 2007.

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

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Opportunity, Lucky, Chance

  "Architect of optimism". Interview with Angel Gurria-Quintana, www.ft.com. April 13, 2007.

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

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Space, Design, Building

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• 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.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Moving, Optimistic, Simple

  "Why Oscar Niemeyer is king of curves" by Tom Dyckhoff, www.thetimes.co.uk. December 12, 2007.

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• I was attracted by the curve — the liberated, sensual curve suggested by the possibilities of new technology yet so often recalled in venerable old baroque churches.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Technology, Curves, Sensual

  Oscar Niemeyer (2000). “The curves of time: the memoirs of Oscar Niemeyer”, Phaidon Press

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• Of course, I have given my engineers some headaches over the years, but they go with me. I have always wanted my buildings to be as light as possible, to touch the ground gently, to swoop and soar, and to surprise.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Light, Years, Surprise

  "I pick up my pen. A building appears". Interview with Jonathan Glancey, www.theguardian.com. August 1, 2007.

  7 Copy quote

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

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Important, Needs, Littles

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

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Two, Architect

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• I have always accepted and respected all other schools of architecture, from the chill and elemental structures of Mies van der Rohe to the imagination and delirium of Gaudi. I must design what pleases me in a way that is naturally linked to my roots and the country of my origin.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Country, School, Please Me

  Oscar Niemeyer's acceptance speech for Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1988.

  21 Copy quote

• Architecture is my work, and Ive spent my whole life at a drawing board, but life is more important than architecture. What matters is to improve human beings.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  What Matters, Drawing, Important

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

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Challenges, Cathedrals, Very Good

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• I deliberately disregarded the right angle and rationalist architecture designed with ruler and square to boldly enter the world of curves and straight lines offered by reinforced concrete... This deliberate protest arose from the environment in which I lived, with its white beaches, its huge mountains, its old baroque churches, and the beautiful suntanned women.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Beautiful, Beach, Squares

  "The Curves of Time: The Memoirs of Oscar Niemeyer". Book by Oscar Niemeyer, 1998.

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• When I was very little my mother said I used to draw in the air with my fingers. I needed a pencil. Once I could hold one, I have drawn every day since.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Mother, Air, Littles

  "I pick up my pen. A building appears" by Jonathan Glancey, www.theguardian.com. August 1, 2007.

  7 Copy quote

• Turning 102 is crap, and there is nothing to commemorate.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Crap

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• Architecture does not change anything. It's always on the side of the wealthy. The important thing is to believe that it can make life better.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Believe, Important, Doe

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• I think of myself as no more than 60. What I could do at 60, I can still do now.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Thinking, Stills, I Can

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• A church is something very beautiful. It is nice when people feel happy in it. But I am not a religious man. Look at us, and then at the infinity of space. We are rather small insignificant creatures, wouldn’t you say?

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Beautiful, Religious, Nice

  Oscar Niemeyer (2003). “Oscar Miemeyer, a Legend of Modernism”

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• When students leave college, they are like children who know nothing about the problems of life, and don't have a political stance.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Children, College, Political

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• It is not with architecture that one can disseminate any political ideology.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Political, Architecture, Ideology

  "Oscar Niemeyer Talks About Brasilia, Communism, Regrets". Interview with Michael Luongo, www.bloomberg.com. December 7, 2012.

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• I like talking to priests, to Catholics. Everyone has their beliefs.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Talking, Catholic, Belief

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• I enter my studio at 9 a.m. I have lunch here, I return right away to my work and I go out to dinner at 8 p.m. My daily tasks vary very much.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Daily Tasks, Lunch, Dinner

  "Oscar Niemeyer Talks About Brasilia, Communism, Regrets". Interview with Michael Luongo, www.bloomberg.com. December 7, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

• In architecture it isn't enough to just have the right building that works well. It can also be beautiful. It can also be different. It can create surprise. And surprise is the main thing in a work of art. [] I like and respect Brasí­lia very much. It is a simple city, a rational one. I always defend the urban design of Brasí­lia

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Beautiful, Art, Simple

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• 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.

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Morning, Reading, Talking

  "Oscar Niemeyer Talks About Brasilia, Communism, Regrets". Interview with Michael Luongo, www.bloomberg.com. December 7, 2012.

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