#Philanthropy Quotes

“Philanthropies and charities have a certain air of quackery.”

“Let ideas establish their legitimate sway again in society, let life be fair and poetic, and the scholars will gladly be lovers, citizens, and philanthropists.”

“I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain portion of his income for charitable purposes; and that it is his further duty to see it so applied and to do the most good for which it is capable.”

“Boredom is the legitimate kingdom of the philanthropic.”

“In that, we agreed with Andrew Carnegie, who said that huge fortunes that flow in large part from society should in large part be returned to society. In my case, the ability to allocate capital would have had little utility unless I lived in a rich, populous country in which enormous quantities of marketable securities were traded and were sometimes ridiculously mispriced. And fortunately for me, that describes the U.S. in the second half of the last century.”

“I would say the most satisfying thing actually is watching my three children each pick up on their own interests and work many more hours per week than most people that have jobs at trying to intelligently give away that money in fields that they particularly care about.”

“I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to develop that talent, and set up the laws and the finanical system to let me do what I love doing-and make a lot of money doing it. The least I can do is help pay for all that.”

“I guarantee if people keep mm..supportin' me....Just buying my records, goin to my concerts, just supporting me..I'ma keep givin' money....Like Makaveli, every time it go platinum, I'm putting money up for community centers.”

“The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously-and have somebody find out.”

“People used to complain about 'the idle rich.' But the idle rich did not do the kind of harm being done by today's busybody rich, who feed their own egos by bankrolling political crusades on the left which hurt the very people that the left claims to care about -- working people, minorities, and children.”

“Philanthropic and religious bodies do not commonly make their executive officers out of saints.”

“Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong”

“Philanthropy [has become] simply the refuge of people who wish to annoy their fellow creatures.”

“I think the world's a better place because Bill realized that his goal isn't to be the richest guy in the cemetery, right?”

“Just as the philanthropist is the nuisance of the ethical sphere, so the nuisance of the intellectual sphere is the man who is so occupied in trying to educate others, that he has never had any time to educate himself.”

“In order to learn how to do something well, you have to fail sometimes. In order to fail, there has to be a measurement system. And that's the problem with most philanthropy - there's no measurement system. You give somebody some money to do something and most of the time you can really never measure whether you failed or succeeded in your judgment of that person or his ideas or their implementation.”

“Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic.”

“In all the ages, three-fourths of the support of the great charities has been conscience money.”

“And, as for what is called improving conversation, that is merely the foolish method by which the still more foolish philanthropist feebly tries to disarm the just rancour of the criminal classes.”

“One of the things that I encourage for anybody who is interested in their own charity or philanthropy is to start from where you are and what has mattered to you.”

“One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money; we also feel we need to work.”

“To move forward you have to give back.”

“I never had children, never even thought I would have children. Now I have 152 daughters; expecting 75 more next year. That is some type of gestation period.”

“there is no fun than helping to make someone's dreams come true Especially when that person is ayoung person and who really want it and really dserve it”

“The goal of my shows, my interviews, my business, my philanthropy, all of it, whatever ventures I might pursue, would be to make clear that what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates me.”

“Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.”

“I am sure that if somebody is giving a sum to charity, he or she should be encouraged to do so by the authorities because the spirit in which we encourage people to give has permeated our society.”

“There can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy to help others without expecting anything in return.”

“It is my greatest wish that the Children’s Fund should continue to be a beacon of hope and light.”

“Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”

“I confess that I have hitherto indulged very little in philanthropic enterprises.... While my townsmen and women are devoted in somany ways to the good of their fellows, I trust that one at least may be spared to other and less humane pursuits. You must have a genius for charity as well as for anything else. As for Doing-good, that is one of the professions which are full.”

“A lot of times things get blown out of proportion in a negative light, especially in the NBA, ... But there are a lot of players in the NBA who really care about the community and want to use their basketball-playing ability for a good cause.”

“If I do become more successful, either as a producer or a rapper, I'm going to do everything I can to help whoever I can on the label.”

“It's good to put money back into communities.”

“Good religious men, with the love of men in their hearts, and the means to pay their toll in their pockets.”

“Philanthropy, charity, giving voluntarily and freely... call it what you like, but it is truly a jewel of an American tradition.”

“If you give money, spend yourself with it.”

“Where do people get off saying the Beatles should give $200,000,000 to South America? You know, America has poured billions into places like that. It doesn't mean a damn thing. After they've eaten that meal, then what? It lasts for only a day. After the $200,000,000 is gone, then what? It goes round and round in circles. You can pour money in forever. After Peru, then Harlem, then Britain. There is no one concert. We would have to dedicate the rest of our lives to one world concert tour, and I'm not ready for it. Not in this lifetime, anyway.”

“In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell.”

“The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own cast- off griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy. We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion.”

“Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege.”

“The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities-a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.”

“Long ago I lost the joy in living. The only joy I have is in my giving.”

“Giving should be entered into in just the same way as investing. Giving is investing.”

“Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind.”

“I regard philanthropy as a tragic apology for wrong conditions under which human beings live.”

“I think it would be fair and right to use some of my land and wealth for a drug-rehab center or an Indian school.”

“(While accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award) I've been thinking about why you have to get famous to get an award for helping other people...If your name is John Doe, and you work night and day doing things for your helpless neighbors, what you get for your effort is tired. So, Mr. and Mrs. Doe, and all of you who give of yourselves, to those who carry too big a burden to make it on their own, I want you to reach out and take your share of this...Because if I have earned it, so too have you.”

“We give scholarships to high school kids and a new library of books to every preschool child in the county where I was born. I didn't have books at home so I did all my reading at school. I love books and I believe that helping kids to read gives them a great start in life.”

“When I started the Imagination Library in my hometown, I never dreamed that one day we would be helping Scottish kids.”