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My ambition has always been to reduce a building’s support to a minimum. The more we diminish supporting structures, the more audacious and important the architecture is. That has been my life’s work.

— Oscar Niemeyer

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More quotes by Oscar Niemeyer

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

Here, then, is what I wanted to tell you of my architecture. I created it with courage and idealism, but also with an awareness of the fact that what is important is life, friends and attempting to make this unjust world a better place in which to live.

The Curves of Time: The Memoirs of Oscar Niemeyer (2000)

It's funny, the power of beauty, to make us forget such injustice. É estranho o poder da beleza, que nos faz esquecer tanta injustiça.

I had some good opportunities. I was lucky to have had the chance to do things differently. Architecture is about surprise.

I was attracted by the curve — the liberated, sensual curve suggested by the possibilities of new technology yet so often recalled in venerable old baroque churches.

The Curves of Time: The Memoirs of Oscar Niemeyer (2000)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Oscar Niemeyer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.