I used to fast during Ramadan because I admired the people fasting around me. What made me convert was that I had that certainty that Islam was for me. I felt this relationship with God, and that enlightened my life. I had that conviction in my heart that that was my religion.

When I reflect on my career I have no regrets.

Shanghai is Asia's New York.

At some point we must stop being paranoid and believing that we are all at war.

I did very little at Real Madrid. I would have liked to do much more but I didn't get the chance.

I know that English football and the Premier League is the best.

I am an engineer, not just an architect, so I've always been motivated by technique or technology. As soon as technology moves just a little bit, it changes architecture.

I have always been fascinated by Indian history and architecture.

I've got a furniture range with my wife, and I want to get into designing hotels and restaurants as well. We've got a big studio in Victoria and a showroom in Belgravia. I've always been interested in architecture.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

In an artwork you're always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death.

One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil.