David Rockefeller

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

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.

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.

Much corporate giving is charitable in nature rather than philanthropic.

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

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

We were afraid of attempts of kidnapping.

Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose all respect for humanity. That’s how rich I want to be.

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

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

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.

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

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

I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world. I collect emotions. I am wealthy in that the people of Russia have twice entrusted me with the leadership of a great nation such as Russia – I believe that is my greatest wealth.

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

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.

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

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

No man’s fortune can be an end worthy of his being.

very day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.

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