Keeping a Clear Head

"I realize that infatuation is the most dangerous thing in the world. That sometimes you fixate on something and you can't get it out of your system until you realize how bad it really is. It's true with me anyway. I think it's true with most architects, as a matter of fact. And, that your judgment sometimes leaves you. One has to keep a really clear head if one is going to be an architect. You can only be carried away by that which really works. Not only physically, technically, and functionally and so forth, but as a work of art. That is really difficult; you have to keep a clear head. It's one's conceits which get you into trouble. So, that's the reason you have to start over every morning of the world. Architecture is really demanding. You can't please yourself too easily. I happen to be very facile, you know. I can draw. I can put down what I'm thinking very quickly. I can also tear it up very quickly. It took me a long time to learn how to do that."

Kaplan, Michael. "Interview with Paul Rudolph." University of Tennessee Journal of Architecture 16 (1995): 7.