Quotes About Philanthropy

The most perplexing issue for Rockefeller was how to square philanthropy with self-reliance.

He constantly reminded his son that it was easier to launch a charitable commitment than to end it.

In the course of the panic, he provided almost $6 million to fifty-eight individuals and firms who were turned down by banks and desperately needed his intervention.

Rockefeller's philanthropy was relatively discreet.

Instead of making isolated gifts, Rockefeller wanted to finance institutions whose research would have a pervasive influence.

To Rockefeller, the least imaginative use of money was to give it to people outright instead of delving into the causes of human misery.

For this reason, he never used his wealth to alleviate poverty directly and scorned any charity that smacked of social welfare.

when John Rockefeller dies," Archbold said, "the world is going to be surprised to learn what a very great man he has been in every way.

To live with his own conscience, he told his father, he had to resign from the trust and devote his life to philanthropy.

Rockefeller was fortunate to have applied his money at the precise moment that medical research matured as a discipline and offered unbounded opportunities.

Rockefeller eventually realized that medical research ideally suited his needs.

Rockefeller was a forgiving lender and, by all accounts, lenient to a fault.

By 1910, medicine and education had emerged as the top priorities of the Rockefeller philanthropies

Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money, and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.

In its thirty-year existence, the GEB dispensed $130 million, equal to more than $1 billion today.

Paradoxically, it was the philanthropic effort that most frustrated him and most frequently violated his charitable principles.

Wanting to dedicate himself to philanthropy

My change is five cents short," Rockefeller declared.

Each year, Rockefeller reluctantly gave another million dollars to bolster the permanent endowment to keep pace with his free-spending president

Rockefeller hated being pressured, and Gates always believed that had Harper asked for less, Rockefeller would have willingly given much more.

The only thing removed by Rockefeller were the worn carpets, which he donated to the needy through a local church.

Gates had to take account of the many things that Rockefeller had ruled off-limits, such as funding social-welfare agencies.

Science today owes as much to the rich men of generosity and discernment

Rockefeller tried to expand his disbursements to keep pace with his mounting income, and his donations nearly doubled from $61,000 in 1881 to $119,000 three years later.