Quotes by Oscar Niemeyer

It was the drawing that led me to architecture, the search for light and astonishing forms.

I search for surprise in my architecture. A work of art should cause the emotion of newness.

It is not with architecture that one can disseminate any political ideology.

Architecture will always express the technical and social progress of the country in which it is carried out. If we wish to give it the human content that it lacks, we must participate in the political struggle.

Architecture is my work, and I've spent my whole life at a drawing board, but life is more important than architecture. What matters is to improve human beings.

Architecture is invention.

Form follows beauty.

For me beauty is valued more than anything - the beauty that is manifest in a curved line or in an act of creativity.

My work is not about 'form follows function,' but 'form follows beauty' or, even better, 'form follows feminine.'

There is no reason to design buildings that are more basic and rectilinear, because with concrete you can cover almost any space.