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Quote by Maya Lin

“I saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial not as an object placed into the earth but as a cut in the earth that has then been polished, like a geode.”

Quote by Maya Lin

Author

Maya Lin, born on October 5, 1959, is a renowned American designer. Her works are characterized by simplicity, modernity, and emotional depth, with her most famous work being the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Lin's design philosophy is deeply influenced by her personal experiences and profound understanding of Chinese culture. more

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“If we forget what used to be, then we’ve lost an ability to really be sensitive to our surroundings.”

Ifs Used Lost Ability Forget Used To Be Sensitive Surroundings

Author:Maya Lin

“I though about what death is, what a loss is. A sharp pain that lessens with time, but can never quite heal over. A scar. The idea occurred to me there on the site. Take a knife and cut open the earth, and with time the grass would heal it. As if you cut open the rock and polished it.”

Ifs Ideas Earth Pain Loss Cutting Rocks Heal Grass Knives Scar Site Never Quit Polished

Author:Maya Lin

“I probably spent the first 20 years of my life wanting to be as American as possible. Through my 20s, and into my 30s, I began to become aware of how so much of my art and architecture has a decidedly Eastern character.”

Years Firsts Art Character Artist Architecture Eastern

Author:Maya Lin

“It was a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. We're reaching a time that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level.”

War Artist Names Individual Levels Lists Acknowledge Reaching Requirements Veteran

Author:Maya Lin

“OK, it was black, it was below grade, I was female, Asian American, young, too young to have served. Yet I think none of the opposition in that sense hurt me.”

Thinking Young Artist Black Hurt Female Grades Opposition Asian Hurt Me Hurt Feelings Asian American

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“Rather than lose the public because television is here, wouldn't it be smart to adopt television as our instrument?”

Loses Television Smart Instruments Being Smart

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“Now, public libraries are most admirable institutions, but they have one irritating custom. They want their books back.”

Want Book Institutions Library Customs Admirable Irritating Public Library

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“Our modern world defined God as a ‘religious complex’ and laughed at the Ten Commandments as OLD FASHIONED. Then, through the laughter came the shattering thunder of the World War. And now a blood-drenched, bitter world — no longer laughing — cries for a way out. There is but one way out. It existed before it was engraven upon Tablets of Stone. It will exist when stone has crumbled. The Ten Commandments are not rules to obey as a personal favor to God. They are the fundamental principles without which mankind cannot live together.”

“The greatest art in the world is the art of storytelling.”

World Art Storytelling

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“Every time I make a picture the critics' estimate of American public taste goes down ten percent.”

Taste Ten Percent Critics

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