David Rockefeller

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

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

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

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

I suspect that many corporations have begun to understand that they have an important role to play in the lives of their communities, and that allocating funds to support local groups helps them discharge that function and also burnish their image.

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

I am convinced that material things can contribute a lot to making one’s life pleasant, but, basically, if you do not have very good friends and relatives who matter to you, life will be really empty and sad and material things cease to be important.

Much corporate giving is charitable in nature rather than philanthropic.

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.

He is richest who is content with the least.

I would be a billionaire if I was looking to be a selfish boss. That’s not me.

We were afraid of attempts of kidnapping.

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

Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress.

I think it’s sad when people make a lot of money and they want the biggest boat or the biggest car or the biggest plane.

Be not penny-wise. Riches have wings. Sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.

My life with Roman was not the fairytale that the papers reported.

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.

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

Wealth – any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.

I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.