Quotes from Peter Eisenman

I'm not a fashion architect. I don't dress in Ralph Lauren and Gucci. When I buy a suit, I buy it at J. Press. I have a blue blazer that I wear 80 percent of the time.

The more centralized the power, the less compromises need to be made in architecture.

Stop making me feel good. If you are anti-Semitic, fine. If you don't like me personally, fine. But deal with me as an individual, not as a Jew.

I truly believe that the great heroes that create the history of architecture are people who take risks and write to tell about it.

I'm a Larry David fan, right? And it seems to me that Jewish history from the Talmud on has been a self-deprecating, self-critical kind of humor.

Architects design houses. I live in a home.

I don't know how to use appliances. I mean, I use the coffee maker. But that's it.

Architecture is definitely a political act.

The guy who sits in front of the TV set with headphones on has lost the capacity to react to the tactile environment.

I would never live in anything I design. Life and art are different. My life is very precious to me - my art is precious to me. I love designing things for other people, but I don't like designing things for myself.

My wife has her stuff and her taste, and I have my stuff and my taste.

I am immersed in architecture all day, working in my office or teaching.

I don't believe that classical architecture is enough to engage people anymore. They say: 'So what else is new?'

If you want to show a picture, just show it - don't spend too much time arranging it.

My father went to Rutgers, and I grew up in New Jersey, so I'm a great Rutgers fan. I have season tickets.

I really don't even think of myself as being Jewish except when I'm in Germany.

I didn't know I was Jewish until I encountered anti-Semitism at the age of 10, when my best friend told me I couldn't come to their house because I was a Jew.

In New York, a Jew is a Jew, an Italian is an Italian, a Muslim is a Muslim: Nobody's going out of his way to treat you in a special way.

I am very different as a parent to new kids. My work changed from being rooted in the sky to being rooted in the earth.

Conservation destroys the present. If we are only busy preserving the past, we are not living in the present and unable to look forward. I am against conservation. We should let young people move forward, whether we agree with them or not. We should let new things happen.

There's no such thing as an absolute openness. Openness is relative, I think, in all societies.

I use the NordicTrack every other day for 20 minutes. I don't listen to music or watch TV while I do it. I count to myself. I count to 25; I count to 25 backwards, that sort of thing.

The problem with digital architecture is that an algorithm can produce endless variations, so an architect has many choices.

If you were a son of mine, I wouldn't want you to be an architect, because it's a tough way to be in the world.