"If the conditions were right there could be great acceptance. Often it is only when they pose an economic or political threat that it turns really ugly"

"I said when I came into office that I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a good democrat"

"Great effort from great motives is the best definition of a happy life"

"Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day"

"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"

"It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice"

"I just had lunch with Slash two days ago. He loves Axl. He holds no grudges towards him. Twenty years of great music wasn't created because of some stupid grudge. That's a shame"

"The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you"

"The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists"

"Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world"

"Maybe we can show government how to operate better as a result of better architecture. Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world"