I have always believed that the more educated the clients are, the easier they are to work with. Clients with a knowledge of decorating, and an ability to articulate what they want from the finished project, make the designer's job easier.

The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what's in or what's out. This is not an easy job.

[an interior designer] must be able to clarify his intent keeping ever in mind that decorating is not a look, it's a point of view.

[on early days of 20th century interior design] We were the upstarts and between our younger ideas and the fabulous and growing array of fabrics, papers and colors everywhere, decorating in America was just about as emotional an art as it had ever been.

[on marketing using interior design] You don't sell a commodity, you sell joy, gaiety, excitement. You aim at people's hearts, not their minds.