Quotes from Richard Rogers

I love my job. What would I retire to?

I don't believe in the ownership of work.

Cities depend on a healthy mix of uses and people for their vitality. As a pre-eminent world city, London is a magnet to people from across the globe.

I am much more passionate about cities than I am about nations. The competition between cities is more civilised than between nations. There is an understanding there.

Architects design buildings; that's what we do, so we have to go with the flow; and, even though I'm still an old Leftie, global capitalism does have its good side. It's broken down barriers - the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union - it's raised a lot of people up economically, and for architects, it has meant that we can work around the world.

Family is everything, although I've been fortunate enough to have worked with some of the most amazing minds over the years, including Renzo Piano, John Young, Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour.

I remember my mother taking me to see the Picasso show in the 1940s, and I was impressed by the life and vibrancy of it all. It was a bit too avant-garde for most Londoners at the time, but since then, the city has become a centre for modern culture.

My mother was very family-oriented. And I do love being with my children.

Architecture is measured against the past, you build in the present, and try to imagine the future.

Watching TV on your own is not very inspiring. But meeting people is where you get new ideas and get things done.

The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.

Architects are not clients. We can't build without something to built.

The Athenians had an oath for someone who was about to become a citizen. They had to swear that 'I shall leave the city not less but more beautiful than I found it.'

Architecture is always political.

'Be passionate about your work and your life' was instilled in me by my mother Dada, who was a potter. She also introduced me to the arts and encouraged me to embrace the new.

Form follows profit is the aesthetic principle of our times.

Architecture is about public space held by buildings.

My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we - architects - can effect the quality of life of the people.

The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.

Architecture is a slow business, and city planning even slower.

I believe very strongly, and have fought since many years ago - at least over 30 years ago - to get architecture not just within schools, but architecture talked about under history, geography, science, technology, art.

Of course I know very little about architecture, and the older I get the less I know.

There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely know. Very often find confusion in conclusion I concluded long ago. In my head are many facts that, as a student, I have studied to procure. In my head are many facts of which I wish I was more certain I was sure.

I think we did a pretty good role, linking, being a sounding board really and a driving force, especially from the bottom up. I think that part of this is bottom up as well as top down.