“I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.”

I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat.

Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.

There’s no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling, to be proud of it.

I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it’s very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.

We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today’s political leaders are still lacking of the vision.

If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it, I become singled out, even though what I’m saying is common sense.

People who can’t do that don’t get a sense of responsibility. And if you lack a sense of responsibility, you push the blame onto the system.

They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things.

If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?

I don’t think I was very structured in that society and I don’t really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.

If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.

This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the quality of their lives.

If people are being abused or even killed during an arrest, this is highly disturbing.

I don’t think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn’t be nervous about that.

A clear understanding of such differences will help the rest of the world understand China and all that is happening to the nation.

I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.

I don’t want to do business with those who don’t make a profit, because they can’t give the best service.

I never treat it like a job or feel that way. It’s the best thing ever to me, and I feel like a kid in a candy store.

If I was really trying to be the best fighter in the world, I would be in the best shape and taking it more serious but I’m not.

If I were a high school coach, I would put my best players on offense. The best athletes on my team,

A good novel is worth more than the best scientific study.

You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path.

Long Beach is the best. I tell everyone that.

Now do I get some time off? Do I get a bonus? Do I get to go on a cruise? But it’s not to keep trying to be the best. That’s not necessarily human nature.