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Daily Inspiration Quote by Maya Lin

"I'm not in a hurry to do a lot of projects. I am very resolved in each project I take on"

About this Quote

Restraint is Maya Lin's quiet flex, and it doubles as a critique of an industry that rewards visibility over clarity. "I'm not in a hurry" reads like a refusal of the architectural hamster wheel: the constant churn of commissions, press, and novelty that can turn buildings into content. Lin frames selectivity not as preciousness but as discipline. The second sentence tightens the screw. "Very resolved" suggests an ethic closer to engineering and memorial-making than to personal brand building. She isn't dabbling; she's committing to consequences.

The subtext lands harder when you remember what put Lin in the public eye: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed in her early twenties, sparked political backlash, aesthetic controversy, and debates about who gets to define patriotism in stone. That project wasn't just a job; it was a national argument with a physical footprint. After you've watched a single design become a proxy battlefield for identity and power, speed stops looking like virtue.

Lin's phrasing also signals how she protects meaning. Memorials, landscapes, and environmental works don't benefit from the "more, faster" logic of the market. They ask for patient looking, careful siting, an acceptance that the work will outlast the applause cycle. In an era when creatives are pushed to post, pitch, and proliferate, Lin positions slowness as authorship. The intent isn't to do less; it's to make each yes count, and to keep the work from being diluted into mere output.

Quote Details

TopicWork Ethic
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Lin, Maya. (2026, January 18). I'm not in a hurry to do a lot of projects. I am very resolved in each project I take on. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-in-a-hurry-to-do-a-lot-of-projects-i-am-12642/

Chicago Style
Lin, Maya. "I'm not in a hurry to do a lot of projects. I am very resolved in each project I take on." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-in-a-hurry-to-do-a-lot-of-projects-i-am-12642/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm not in a hurry to do a lot of projects. I am very resolved in each project I take on." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-in-a-hurry-to-do-a-lot-of-projects-i-am-12642/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Maya Lin (born October 5, 1959) is a Architect from USA.

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