Quote

Enquire what the effect of large endowments are upon colleges.

How unfair the fate which ordains that those who have the least should be always adding to the treasury of the wealthy.

Usually, people in the Islamic world set aside one-third or one-fourth of their wealth for endowment, and that will be effective only after their death. But in my case, I decided to implement this decision in my lifetime itself.

That's the reason support for the National Endowment of the Arts is so important. It enables those ventures that aren't viable commercially to be done.

College professors used to be badly paid and worth it. Colleges used to be modest institutions; they should go back to being modest institutions.

Nothing turns off an investor more than when an entrepreneur comes in with a ridiculous valuation.

Equity capital is expensive. Every time you do a raise, you dilute.

There's a lot of complacency in philanthropy. People figure organizations are trying to do good, and that's enough, even if the results aren't there. But that's wasteful and inefficient. It crowds out better programs.

It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.

Incumbents don't like it, but political competition is a good thing. Incumbents usually outspend challengers by better than 3 to 1. Super PACs, which tend to support challengers, have nullified some of this advantage.