Eli Broad Quotes

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Philanthropy is activism.

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.