I think the artistic side of architecture was natural to me. My mother was an artist and a poet. I. M. Pei More Quotes by I. M. Pei More Quotes From I. M. Pei I have a great love for nature. That must have started somewhere down back home, I think, because my family own one of the better known gardens in Soochow, so I played there, and I lived there, and so I must have absorbed something there. So I continue to have a great interest in nature. I. M. Pei familynaturehomelove A city, far from being a cluster of buildings, is actually a sequence of spaces enclosed and defined by buildings. I. M. Pei farbuildingscitybeing Architecture must not do violence to space or its neighbors. I. M. Pei neighborsarchitectureviolencespace 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 young-manmandreamamerica The first decent building I did with my own practice was a chapel in Taiwan. I. M. Pei ownbuildingmy-ownpractice I arrived in the U.S.A. in 1935, to San Francisco. I got the boat from China, and I didn't even speak English. I could read a little, perhaps write a little, but that was all. It was a 17-day journey, and I learnt to speak English from the stewards. I. M. Pei englishboatspeakjourney I've never left China. My family's been there for 600 years. But my architecture is not consciously Chinese in any sense. I'm a western architect. I. M. Pei neverleftfamilyarchitecture 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. I. M. Pei goodthinkbuildingpractice 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 youfriendspeopleway
