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.

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

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.

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

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

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