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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

I could live anywhere in the world I want. But Los Angeles is the place to live.

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.'

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.

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

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.

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

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

Philanthropy is activism.

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.

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

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

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

A real collector does not sell.

In America, what you've accomplished financially is a measurement, whether you like it or not.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Collecting is more than just buying objects.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.