Nicolas Berggruen Quotes

We're told that to be fly, you gotta have a fly car, the rims on your wheels, the fly jewels, and that to work a regular job and make legal money is uncool.

I'm a slave to the culture, so I see an Audi, a Denali, or an Escalade, my neighbor got the four-door Porsche. I have a really nice truck. But it's a Durango and I like frontin'! I like to ride by and show off.

When you first get money, you buy all these things so no one thinks you're mean, and you spread it around. You get a chauffeur and you find yourself thrown around the back of this car and you think, I was happier when I had my own little car! I could drive myself!

I suppose in the back of my mind I was always one of those guys who had a disdain for money. It had a value if you wanted to buy something, but if you didn't want to buy something, you didn't need it.

Wealthy people have not disappeared, they are just not so willing to show off their wealth.

Having enough money has to go hand in hand with living in a way that you're not being a slave to your possessions.

When you're young, luxury often means being able to buy something you really want - a high end bag or a specific car.

I'm not really worried about the flashy stuff. I don't got chains and cars. I spend what I need to spend. It doesn't faze me.

I have a Mercedes. I wear a Rolex watch. I have no problem with the selling of things.

I'm not interested in building wealth, which is kind of naive and probably frowned on, living in America. It's something that people don't necessarily understand, but if I die poor, I die poor.

It's human nature when you first make your big fortune to want to show off a bit. I don't begrudge that whatsoever.

I don't have to live this lavish lifestyle.

Any girl that's got a $500,000 table and $5 shoes, I'm in love with.

Money is not everything. We don't need billions and trillions of dollars.

The American dream is a crock. Stop wanting everything. Everyone should wear jeans and have three T-shirts, eat rice and beans.

I am quite amazed how, when people earn lots of money, they think they have to spend it on things that give them access to the club constituted by the people who are in their tax bracket.

Real freedom is having nothing. I was freer when I didn't have a cent.

I don't need to be rich anymore; I don't need to be a millionaire.

Me, I don't need money.

I've spent a lot of years living with normal people. If I take a private jet to go to a meeting in Milan, well, that's my business; I can do it. But I don't live for it.

With the computer and stuff, the difference between a rich guy and a poor guy, to me, is nothing. Because I don't like big houses, I don't drive a car, so you know, I just live in a small apartment and I have my computer, which is really cool.

Some people just use beautiful things to just shop or to have a tribal feeling - 'Oh, blah, blah, blah, I'm wearing Hermes; blah, blah, blah, I'm wearing Saint Laurent; blah-blah blah' - because it's like a need, a tribe, recognition: 'Ahh, my Rolex.' But I run away from anything which is too recognizable - it's my nature.

There's nothing - I've bought everything I want. I don't like yachts or anything; you know, I'm not a yacht person, and I've got pretty much the nicest plane I'd want to have.

I hope that if you are employed full-time, you are doing it to ensure that basic needs are met and not simply to indulge a taste for an elaborate home, fancy cars, and other luxuries.

I never wanted to be a millionaire. I just wanted to live like one.