David Rockefeller Quotes (41 Quotes)



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

    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.


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


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

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

    (after thanking media)It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the worldif we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those 40 years.But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards aworld government.

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


    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.

    Little by little, though, people recognized that it was very important to give contemporary artists a permanent place where their work would be kept.

    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.

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

    In order to appreciate cultures of another nation, one needs to go there, know the people and mingle with the culture of that country.

    Mother also loved Asian art, but she preferred the ceramics and sculpture of earlier Chinese and Korean dynasties, as well as Buddhist art.

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


    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.

    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.

    Much corporate giving is charitable in nature rather than philanthropic.

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


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

    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 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 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.

    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.

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

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

    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.

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

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

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

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

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

    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.



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