David Rockefeller Quotes

We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis.

Father was the eldest son and the heir apparent, and he set the standard for being a Rockefeller very high, so every achievement was taken for granted and perfection was the norm.

I learned more from my mother than from all the art historians and curators who have informed me about technical aspects of art history and art appreciation over the years.

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.

If necessity is the mother of invention, discontent is the father of progress.

The negative impact of population growth on all of our planetary ecosystems is becoming appallingly evident.

Bilderberger Meeting: The world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government.

Mother's taste was eclectic and ranged from the ancient world to the contemporary from Europe to the U.S.

I hope the Guggenheim plan will be revived.

Only once in my life was I on the edge of incivility. I do not like to be unkind.

...somebody has to take governments' place, and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it.

You know, gentlemen, that I do not owe any personal income tax. But nevertheless, I send a small check, now and then, to the Internal Revenue Service out of the kindness of my heart.

It is true that I am often startled and even angered and repulsed by the strange directions and provocative content of new forms that seem to pop up every few months.

A museum has to renew its collection to be alive, but that does not mean we give on important old works.

I believe that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

Philanthropy is involved with basic innovations that transform society, not simply maintaining the status quo or filling basic social needs that were formerly the province of the public sector.

Money can add very much to one's ability to lead a constructive life, not only pleasant for oneself, but, hopefully, beneficial to others.

Whatever you do, if you do it hard enough you'll enjoy it. The important thing is to work and work hard.

By a museum, I assume you mean an institution dedicated to the events of Sept. 11 and the aftermath. If that is done with sensitivity, I think it would be most appropriate.

I was born into wealth and there was nothing I could do about it. It was there like food or air.

I am never angry, although sometimes distressed.

They decided to establish a museum of modern art where works by contemporary artists would be shown. Mother was viewed as a very progressive person, and not everybody liked the paintings she bought.

The role of a museum of modern art is to make a good selection and identify what we believe to be the coming movements, and that requires taste.

I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.

Populists and isolationists ignore the tangible benefits that have resulted from our active international role during the past half-century.

I do not like to be unkind.

When you have a lot of resources, the most important thing is to have had good parents and to have been brought up by people who gave one the proper values.

I owe much to mother. She had an expert's understanding, but also approached art emotionally.

The Japanese have a wonderful sense of design and a refinement in their art. They try to produce beautiful paintings with the minimum number of strokes.

Mother's interest in contemporary American artists emerged during the 1920s.

I am a passionate traveler, and from the time I was a child, travel formed me as much as my formal education.

The Christian ethic played an essential part in my upbringing.

The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work

My grandfather, along with Carnegie, was a pioneer in philanthropy, which my father then practiced on a very large scale.

Eventually, most people felt MoMA had filled a very important gap.

Much corporate giving is charitable in nature rather than philanthropic.

Courting Peggy McGrath provided me with a very pleasant diversion and eventually with the most important relationship of my life.

I never kept a diary, but I wrote detailed notes of my travels.

The conventional notions of art have changed, and a lot of things done today are considered works of art that would have been rejected in the past.

The Japanese banks are not having an easy time as they once had.

Successful charitable fund-raising has much in common with managing a business: It requires leadership, persistence, and creativity.

I think I am basically a happy person.

As children we recognized that we belonged to an unusual, even exceptional, family, but the effect was different on each of us.

My congratulations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution.

I can only say that I have had a wonderful life.

MoMA is doubling its space, and I decided to raise the money for it.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the current economic recession, which is particularly powerful in New York City, have put a number of building plans on hold for the time being.

I realize how fortunate I have been; mine has been a wonderful life.