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.

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.

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.

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

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.