Maya Lin quotes - page 2

Maya Lin is an American architect and artist, renowned for her minimalist and evocative designs. Her most famous work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which redefined public monuments in the United States. She continues to influence contemporary architecture and memory through her innovative projects. Here are 54 of her quotes:

My grandfather, on my father's side, helped to draft one of the first constitutions of China. He was a fairly well-known scholar. (Maya Lin)
Some artists want to confront. Some want to invoke thought. They're all necessary and they're all valid. View quote
Maya Lin
I probably have fundamentally antisocial tendencies. I never took one extracurricular activity. I just failed utterly at that level. Part of me still rebels against that. View quote
Maya Lin
You couldn't put me in a social group setting. I'm probably a terrible anarchist deep down. View quote
Maya Lin
My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions. View quote
Maya Lin
Our parents decided not to teach us Chinese. It was an era when they felt we would be better off if we didn't have that complication. View quote
Maya Lin
I probably spent the first 20 years of my life wanting to be as American as possible. Through my 20s, and into my 30s, I began to become aware of how so much of my art and architecture has a decidedly Eastern character. View quote
Maya Lin
Some of your teachers are actually closer in age to you than you think. View quote
Maya Lin
I was probably the first kid in my high school to go to Yale. I applied almost as a lark. Then, when I got there, I was the dumbest person in your class. View quote
Maya Lin
I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination. View quote
Maya Lin
I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was. (Maya Lin)
OK, it was black, it was below grade, I was female, Asian American, young, too young to have served. Yet I think none of the opposition in that sense hurt me. View quote
Maya Lin
You have to let the viewers come away with their own conclusions. If you dictate what they should think, you've lost it. View quote
Maya Lin
A lot of my works deal with a passage, which is about time. I don't see anything that I do as a static object in space. It has to exist as a journey in time. View quote
Maya Lin
If we can't face death, we'll never overcome it. You have to look it straight in the eye. Then you can turn around and walk back out into the light. View quote
Maya Lin
Nothing is ever guaranteed, and all that came before doesn't predicate what you might do next. View quote
Maya Lin
Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don't want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist. View quote
Maya Lin
Sometimes you have to stop thinking. Sometimes you shut down completely. I think that's true in any creative field. View quote
Maya Lin
Math, it's a puzzle to me. I love figuring out puzzles. View quote
Maya Lin
The process I go through in the art and the architecture, I actually want it to be almost childlike. Sometimes I think it's magical. View quote
Maya Lin
It's funny, as you live through something you're not aware of it. (Maya Lin)
Warmth isn't what minimalists are thought to have. View quote
Maya Lin
In art or architecture your project is only done when you say it's done. If you want to rip it apart at the eleventh hour and start all over again, you never finish. I was one of those crazy creatures. View quote
Maya Lin
I went through withdrawal when I got out of graduate school. It's what you learn, what you think. That's all that counts. View quote
Maya Lin
It's only in hindsight that you realize what indeed your childhood was really like. View quote
Maya Lin

Maya Lin

Maya Lin - Image
Photo: Berkeley Center for New Media, CC BY-SA 2.0
Occupation: American Architect
Born: October 5, 1959
Quotes count: 54