Nicolas Berggruen Quotes

The biggest determinant in our lives is culture, where we are born, what the environment looks like. But the second biggest determinant is probably governance, good governance or a certain kind of governance makes a huge difference in our lives.

Brunch is boring, but that's part of the charm of it.

Singapore has been incredibly well-managed. It was created out of the swamp, with a strong emotional idea: a safe place for mostly Chinese, but accepting other cultures and other races.

Everybody is different and I think that we live in a material world. But for me, possessing things is not that interesting. Living in a grand environment to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal. Whatever I own is temporary, since we're only here for a short period of time. It's what we do and produce, it's our actions, that will last forever. That's real value.

At the end, the key thing is you've got to live with yourself. That's the real test. Everything else is fleeting.

Other people might have family - three kids or five houses. In my case, that doesn't exist. I'm going to give everything away. Everything has been transferred to charitable trusts. There is no question about that. The question is where, not if.

California has something which not every place in the world has: It has what I would call a sunny side, and I don't mean just physically, but the sunny side is a future. California's worth saving, to put it bluntly.

Luckily the whole world is not like me, or else, there would be no world.

Possessing things is not that interesting. Living in a grand environment to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal.

I felt I was owned by possessions.

California is a place of invention, a place of courage, a place of vision, a place of the future. People who made California what it is were willing to take risks, think outside convention and build.

I don't get that much enjoyment out of saying 'I own it.'

I can drive. Let's just say you don't want to be in the passenger seat.

If you have things and if you are a perfectionist, which I am, you have to really tend to them, and it takes energy away from other things.

Everything I do now is about growing the pot to have more to give away.

I don't have a house, and I don't have a lot of time for socializing, so every year I have a party for all of my friends.

Commodity exchanges have a lot of advantages. One, you are helping transparency. Two, they are not political. It's institutional building. It can survive any environment, in theory.

If you erased New York, I hate to say it, if you erased Frankfurt, even London, the world would not have changed.

I wish I was a great writer or a great journalist or a great scientist or a great artist; I'm not.

L.A. is very special to me, so far away from my world on the East Coast, Europe, Asia. It's a bit of an island for me - less intense, less busy; because of time difference and location, it has a calming effect. At least it used to be all that.

Most countries in Africa have the capacity to be great agricultural producers, but they do only subsistence production. So a family will produce for themselves and nothing more. Why? Because of the systems: The markets are not there to go beyond.

In my teens I was interested in photography. Then I decided that I should learn something about the world of commerce. And I came to America at age 17 to escape Europe. I went to NYU - nothing better than being 17 years old and coming to New York.