One thing I learn - I've been in practice now for half a century or more, and the most important ingredient for an architect to do a good building is to have a good client. I think a client counts for as much as fifty per cent.

The first decent building I did with my own practice was a chapel in Taiwan.

Architecture must not do violence to space or its neighbors.

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.

Back then, in 1968, everything was suspect - family, government, and obviously the family unit in 'Night of the Living Dead' completely collapses. That's what we were focused on.

Ice Cube's the coolest dad. A lot of parents - a lot of kids do not think their parents are cool. Oh, no. My dad's cool... You know, I was born in 1991. That's when 'Boyz n the Hood' came out. So I've always see him on TV. I don't see everybody else's dad, you know. So I've always had a sense of, you know, he's cool. He's in the light.

I may be a public figure, but really, I'm just like a guy who could be in your family and have some difficult things happen to him.

My mother has done a great job with her kids. The daily struggle of raising three daughters with a very limited income yet seeing to it that they get a good upbringing, giving her daughters wings even after not being so educated - that person is my hero.