Nicolas Berggruen

“Think of everything in Seattle - Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks. Then you go down to Silicon Valley - Intel, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter. What does New York produce?”

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

“I understand the human instinct to want to create a nest and possess things, to show them off, but for me personally, it became less and less interesting.”

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

“I felt I was owned by possessions.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”