David Rockefeller

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

The Christian ethic played an essential part in my upbringing.

When I see something I like, I buy it, but I do not look for it madly.

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 can only say that I have had a wonderful life.

I do not like to be unkind.

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.

Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants, yet not without sweetness.

I pay my mama’s bills, I ain’t got no time to chill.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

You have to love your children unselfishly. That is hard. But it is the only way.

Be nice to your siblings, they’re your best link to your past and the most likely to stay with you in the future.

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.

It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.

Parents and children seldom act in concert: each child endeavors to appropriate the esteem or fondness of the parents, and the parents, with yet less temptation, betray each other to their children.

I have to be in tune with my husband, where he is, how he’s feeling. I have to be in tune with where my family is. The same thing is true in the work that I do. It’s all about me feeling where people are. So that’s why I try to be really present, even when I’m on a rope line. I never take for granted my interactions with people. And it’s never black-and-white. I’m usually reading the crowd, reading the people that I’m with. I guess if this role has changed me, it’s improved my ability to do that. I’ve gotten better at sensing where people are at any given time.

There was a lot of charm in just living in a big family compound of a house. My two uncles, who were into jazz, lived in the basement, and one of them, Uncle Peter, taught me my first songs on the ukulele.

My father died in 1960. He was an intellectual. . . . She made the money and he read a lot. He wasn’t successful or ambitious. He spoke lots of languages. There were times that kids said to me, ‘What does your father do?’ and I had to make something up because I actually didn’t know what he did.

She does have a very nice figure… If [Ivanka] weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.

Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway. He has to get through you first before he gets into the house to get your family. I’m one of those guys who wants to be in that door.

When your children arrive, your heart becomes a room with wide open windows.