David Rockefeller

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.

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.

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

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

I do not like to be unkind.

One cannot expect to coast along and rise automatically to the top, no matter what friends you may have in the company. There may have been a time when, in large corporations, a person could rise simply because he had a stock interest or because he had friends in top management. That’s not true today. 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.

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.

All art inspires me. Life inspires me. The art of life, thus my own art.

What’s any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around. What’s left of the man when the work’s done but a shambles of apology.

The arts are at the center of a nation’s purpose and a test of civilization.

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

Truth exists in art.

This type of soul, this type of art takes a while to cook. It’s like when my wife cooks for me and I always ask for greens. She never wants to cook the greens because they take three hours to cook.

The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.

Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.

Art is constant tension and release. That is where artists live, between the two or at times, submerged in either.

Playing with freedom can only come after a certain amount of foundational study.

From my point of view, which is that of a storyteller, I see your life as already artful, waiting, just waiting and ready for you to make it art.

People with talent are not interested in showing off behind another person.

There is no art without intention.