Quotes from David Rockefeller

My own interest in art was because of my mother. My father didn't like contemporary art, so he didn't give her large sums to spend. So, she began buying prints and drawings. During my school days, I remember sitting in on many of the early meetings.

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.

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

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.

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

Much corporate giving is charitable in nature rather than philanthropic.

We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis.

Bilderberger Meeting: The world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government.

...somebody has to take governments' place, and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it.

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

I hope the Guggenheim plan will be revived.

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

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.

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

I hope the Guggenheim plan will be revived.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.