Eli Broad
Art evokes emotion. It doesn't have to be a thing of beauty.Collection: Beauty
School district policies and practices have not kept pace with student and teacher needs.Collection: Teacher
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.Collection: Moving
I'd be bored to death if I spent all my time with other businesspeople, bankers and lawyers.Collection: Death
Artists rarely do the same thing over and over again. Art is about the new, doing things in a new way.
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.
The unions no longer control the education agenda of the Democratic Party.
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.
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 think the opera is one of the great cultural jewels of Los Angeles.
Teach For America provides one of the most critical pipelines for bringing new talent into public education.
Without a doubt, stem cell research will lead to the dramatic improvement in the human condition and will benefit millions of people.
People would rather have art or gold instead of paper money.
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.
Every artist is unreasonable, because he or she is doing something that hasn't been done before.
People think it's strange how briskly I move through museums. Sure, I could stand in front of each piece and stare at it for a good long time. But that's not me.
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.
Time is the most valuable thing you have - and I'm not just talking about the minutes for which you're paid.
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.
The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.
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.
I don't see myself as a great discoverer of artists, like Charles Saatchi.
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.
Civilizations are not remembered by their business people, their bankers or lawyers. They're remembered by the arts.
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.
I have always believed that every great city in history needs a vibrant center.
I'd rather be respected than loved.
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.
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.
Collecting is more than just buying objects.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You can have great teachers, but if you don't have a good principal, you won't have a good school.
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.'
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.
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.
Anything I do, I spend a lot of time. I do it with passion and intensity. I want to be in charge.
I could live anywhere in the world I want. But Los Angeles is the place to live.
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'm strong-willed. Architects are strong-willed. You get the best results with a strong client and a strong architect working together.
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.
If you ask why I do what I do - I want to make a difference. I don't just want to maintain the status quo. I want to help people, to work with institutions or create ones when they don't exist.
Philanthropy is activism.
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.
If people want to criticize me because it sells papers, that's fine. I just don't like it when it's inaccurate.
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.
I don't want to be in the film business. I'm not even sure it's a business.
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.