David Rockefeller

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.

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.

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.

Populists and isolationists ignore the tangible benefits that have resulted from our active international role during the past half-century.

I realize how fortunate I have been; mine has been a wonderful life.

I am a passionate traveler, and from the time I was a child, travel formed me as much as my formal education. In order to appreciate cultures of another nation, one needs to go there, know the people and mingle with the culture of that country. One way to do that, if one is lucky enough, is to buy things from those cultures.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Successful charitable fund-raising has much in common with managing a business: It requires leadership, persistence, and creativity.

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