Eli Broad quotes:

I am old enough to remember when America's K-12 public schools were the best in the world. I am a proud graduate of them, and I credit much of my success to what I learned in Detroit Public Schools and at Michigan State University.

Oprah Winfrey's global influence is unparalleled. Not only has her generosity and firm belief that education is the key to a better life benefited countless women and children around the world, but her example has also inspired millions of people to give back in ways big and small.

To me, unconventional thinking is approaching a problem and asking, 'Why not? Why can't something be done?' If someone can't give me a good reason why you can't do something, I find a way to do it.

The first dream I had was just to get a college education. I got through college in three years, taking extra classes in summer school.

Most museums - with all their burdens to pay for exhibitions, administration, and security - really don't have any money really to acquire art, with few exceptions.

You can have great teachers, but if you don't have a good principal, you won't have a good school.

Charity is just writing checks and not being engaged. Philanthropy, to me, is being engaged, not only with your resources but getting people and yourself really involved and doing things that haven't been done before.

School district policies and practices have not kept pace with student and teacher needs.

Without a doubt, stem cell research will lead to the dramatic improvement in the human condition and will benefit millions of people.

Frankly, I'm not sure how far I would get if I attended public school today. It's not just that public schools aren't producing the results we want - it's that we're not giving them what they need to help students achieve at high levels. K-12 education in the United States is deeply antiquated.

If you have poor management that's not doing the right job, you end up with unions filling the void and... page after page of work rules and thicker and thicker contracts.

The unions no longer control the education agenda of the Democratic Party.

The American people frankly have been, over many, many years - to be blunt - fat, dumb and happy. If they want their children to compete with children in India, China or Korea, they better get them a far better education.

Unfortunately, the boards of art institutions tend to be populated with well-meaning supporters of the arts who often lack any business background or appetite for imposing appropriate discipline.

School boards are, for the most part,made up of political wannabes who see a board seat as a stepping stone for political office, or well-meaning parents who represent an ethnic group or geography, or have some other narrow interests. Few people on them understand what governance is about.

It's hard to explain your emotions when you see a work of art.

Art evokes emotion. It doesn't have to be a thing of beauty.

Someone once told me I'm a sore winner, and they're right. I rarely take more than a moment to enjoy a success before I'm moving on and looking for the next challenge.

As the son of a union activist and a lifelong Democrat, I've always thought that privatizing our public schools is not the answer. We must strengthen public schools.

I can't think of another enterprise other than being a homeowner that can't have its debt restructured in bankruptcy. Corporations can but a homeowner can't? Now with securitization the homeowner can't go to the owner of the loan and work things out.

I have always believed that every great city in history needs a vibrant center.

The biggest barrier we've seen to student progress is this: School policies and practices often prevent good teachers from doing great work and even dissuade some talented Americans from entering the profession. This needs to change.

People would rather have art or gold instead of paper money.

What artists think about the world is often different from how we businessmen see it, and I find that an enriching experience.

It's critical that states improve how teachers are trained, recruited, evaluated, compensated, advanced, and retained.

There were periods when the art market got overheated, but there is no reason it should appreciate dramatically.

I don't think it makes any sense for an individual to invest in common stocks unless they know the company, work at the company, and so on.

Teach For America provides one of the most critical pipelines for bringing new talent into public education.

I never play golf because it takes too long, and the business connections it produces can be made just as easily over an early breakfast.

I've never been one who enjoys maintaining the status quo. I'm always pushing for new ideas, whether it's in business or philanthropy.

I'm strong-willed. Architects are strong-willed. You get the best results with a strong client and a strong architect working together.

I never stay anywhere - parties, museums, meetings - longer than three hours.

My family and I have been blessed with good fortune in the world of business. We've created quite a net worth. My children, two boys, have more money than they will ever need, and they aren't empire builders.

Civilizations are not remembered by their business people, their bankers or lawyers. They're remembered by the arts.

For businesses to be successful, they need to constantly ask the question: 'How can we provide value to our customers?' At the end of the day, that is what matters.

I've got a big ego, I admit it; I'm ego-driven.

My wife was the first art collector in the family, and I didn't become interested until around 1973. The first important artwork we bought was a Van Gogh drawing of two peasant houses in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

Being a Midwesterner, I know that many of the middle-class manufacturing jobs that had been at the heart of our economy are either gone or going, and they're not coming back.

You don't support politicians in their elections if whoever's seeking money only has a goal to stay in office or get in office. You have to pick the people who are going to do the best job.

Los Angeles is one of the four cultural capitals of the world, but we don't attract as many cultural tourists as New York, London or Paris. I want to change that.

I think over any period of time, especially if you don't use leverage, it is difficult to continually beat the S&P 500.

I'd be bored to death if I spent all my time with other businesspeople, bankers and lawyers.

Contemporary art challenges us.. it broadens our horizons. It asks us to think beyond the limits of conventional wisdom.

How absurd that our students tuck their cell phones, BlackBerrys, iPads, and iPods into their backpacks when they enter a classroom and pull out a tattered textbook.

You always learn lessons in business.

Managers are responsible for setting workplace policies under which teachers can succeed. Managers are responsible for negotiating contracts that create the conditions under which teachers can succeed.

Time is the most valuable thing you have - and I'm not just talking about the minutes for which you're paid.

I don't think the market can keep going up. In the U.S., we see real estate not going up.. houses are selling at lower prices. You can't have anything going up 10 percent to 20 percent to 30 percent indefinitely.

I don't like to spend time in endless meetings talking about stuff that isn't going to get anything done. I have meetings, but they're short, prompt and to the point.

Twombly, frankly, was an acquired taste. I was not in love with Twombly the first time I saw one of his paintings.

Museums do not share their collections with other museums unless they get something in exchange. The Metropolitan will deal with the Louvre, but will they send their stuff to Memphis? No.

The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.

If people want to criticize me because it sells papers, that's fine. I just don't like it when it's inaccurate.

The best move you can make in negotiation is to think of an incentive the other person hasn't even thought of - and then meet it.

I believe that a newspaper is a great civic asset and that ownership is best in the hands of foundations or wealthy families that want to own it for reasons other than maximizing profits. I also believe newspapers should remain in local hands.

A real collector does not sell.

I've become convinced that Los Angeles is going to become the next contemporary art capital - no other city has more contemporary gallery space than Los Angeles. We've come into our own, finally.

I believe in the democratization of the arts. What do I mean by that? I think museums, with some exceptions, have a responsibility to educate a much broader public.

I don't see myself as a great discoverer of artists, like Charles Saatchi.

The happiest people I've found are in science. These people have three times the IQ - maybe I'm exaggerating. They have a higher IQ than I do. They love what they're doing, they have a good family life, they're satisfied.

Los Angeles is such a great meritocracy. Where can someone with my background - don't have the right family background, the right religion, the right provenance or whatever you want to call it - I come here and I'm accepted. The city's been good to me. And I want to give back.

A lot of executives act like their time is worth more than anyone else's. But I always respect an employee who guards his or her time, even from me.

People don't know I've got a deep social conscience. I'm a child of the Depression, born in 1933. My parents were very liberal in their social views.

I believe in two things: One, Andrew Carnegie said, 'He who dies with wealth dies in shame.' And someone once said, 'He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes.'

To me, money is a means to do good. I reached a point in my life where I had enjoyed tremendous business success that afforded my family everything we could possibly want. My wife and I then decided that we could use our wealth to make a difference. So we created the Broad Foundations to do four things: to improve urban public education, to support innovative scientific and medical research, to foster art appreciation for audiences worldwide and to support civic initiatives in Los Angeles.

There is no substitute for knowledge. To this day, I read three newspapers a day. It is impossible to read a paper without being exposed to ideas. And ideas - more than money - are the real currency for success.

While I am proud of a number of accomplishments, there are real costs to being unreasonable. Long hours. Too little time with family. A near incapacity for, as they say, stopping and smelling the roses.

If someone can't give me a good reason why you can't do something, I find a way to do it.

Research â?? and using what you learn from it to analyze every situation â?? is what separates being unreasonable from being irrational.

Who you spend your life with-much more so than how you choose to spend it-is the most important decision you can make. Do it right. That's the best advice I can give you.

For businesses to be successful, they need to constantly ask the question: how can we provide value to our customers? At the end of the day, that is what matters.

I can imagine no more important contribution to our country's future than a long-term commitment to improving urban K-12 public schools.

Public education is the key civil rights issue of the 21st century. Our nation's knowledge-based economy demands that we provide young people from all backgrounds and circumstances with the education and skills necessary to become knowledge workers. If we don't, we run the risk of creating an even larger gap between the middle class and the poor. This gap threatens our democracy, our society and the economic future of America.

People always say congratulations. When you're a successful bidder it means you're willing to spend more money than anyone else. I'm not sure if that's congratulations or condolences.

Ideas, more than money, are really the currency for success.

I am not a patient person. My friends and colleagues will confirm this. But, frankly, we should all feel a little more impatient with the state of public education in America today.

I'd rather be respected than loved.

No one ever made a million bucks by being cautious or timid or reasonable.

I don't want to be in the film business. I'm not even sure it's a business.

One, Andrew Carnegie said, â??He who dies with wealth dies in shame.â?? And someone once said, â??He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes.â??

I learned to embrace risk, as long as it was well thought out and, in a worst-case scenario, I'd still land on my feet.

At a time when all the other builders were selling homes with basements but without carports, we would sell homes without basements and with carports. This allowed us to provide a more appealing product at a lower price. In other words, we felt we would be giving customers greater value.

In high school, I would drive my teachers batty. They would make a statement, and I would say, 'Why is that?' They didn't want to be questioned.

Artists rarely do the same thing over and over again. Art is about the new, doing things in a new way.

Philanthropy is activism.

The first thing I started collecting was stamps. Until I started discovering girls. That was the end of stamps.

Every artist is unreasonable, because he or she is doing something that hasn't been done before.

Any city in America would like to get a museum built if they didn't have to pay for it.

Anything I do, I spend a lot of time. I do it with passion and intensity. I want to be in charge.

Collectors become obsessive and then addicted. You become addicted to art and you can't live without it.

Collecting is more than just buying objects.