Quotes & Sayings About Philanthropists

After years of working with missionaries, I am tempted to conclude that their endeavors merely prolong a dying race's agonies for ten or twenty years. The merciful plowman shoots a trusty horse grown too old for service. As philanthropists, might it not be our duty to likewise ameliorate the savages' sufferings by hastening their extinction? Think of your Red Indians, Adam, think on the treaties you Americans abrogate & renege on, time & time & time again. More humane, surely & more honest, just to knock the savages on the head & get it over with? — David Mitchell

Through their donations and work for voluntary organizations, the charitable rich exert enormous influence in society. As philanthropists, they acquire status within and outside of their class. Although private wealth is the basis of the hegemony of this group, philanthropy is essential to the maintenance and perpetuation of the upper class in the United States. In this sense, nonprofit activities are the nexus of a modern power elite. — Teresa Odendahl

They were philanthropists, helping out with charitable and cultural causes, but when it came to anything progressive like a new belt-line around Buffalo, or moving toll-barriers, or raising taxes to support a crumbling school system, they drew the lines around what could be done, not what should be done, to protect their insular world of being the best kept secret in the northeast as far as cost of living went. — Patricia Butler

Let us be Christians toward our fellow-whites, as well as philanthropists toward the blacks our fellow-men. In all things, and toward all, we are enjoined to do as we would be done by. — Herman Melville

Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most philanthropists want to be effective altruists. But the problem isn't intention: it's measurement. Unlike financial investing, which has reporting standards, audit processes, and educational requirements, social investing is notoriously tricky to evaluate. — Leila Janah

The problem for most of us is that the cup has holes, so love goes out just as easily as it goes in. What happens when people are living in the unconditional state of love, however, is that they recognize they are the ocean of love; they know it's their essence. And they naturally overflow in this love. So instead of being love beggars, they become love philanthropists. — Marci Shimoff

The Royal family have always been great philanthropists. — Arpad Busson

It takes money to make money, even begging. Humans are herd animals. If a stranger's bleeding to death beside the road, most people won't stop to offer a Band-Aid. But get the ball rolling with a couple Good Samaritans, and before you know it you've got more eager philanthropists than you know what to do with. — Sol Luckman

It meant that New York philanthropists, New York society, would now rediscover the library ... that learning, books, education have glamour, that self-improvement has glamour, that hope has glamour. — Vartan Gregorian

What he realised, and more clearly as time went on, was that money-worship has been elevated into a religion. Perhaps it is the only real religion-the only felt religion-that is left to us. Money is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success. Hence the profoundly significant phrase, to make good. The decalogue has been reduced to two commandments. One for the employers-the elect, the money priesthood as it were- 'Thou shalt make money'; the other for the employed- the slaves and underlings'- 'Thou shalt not lose thy job.' It was about this time that he came across The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and read about the starving carpenter who pawns everything but sticks to his aspidistra. The aspidistra became a sort of symbol for Gordon after that. The aspidistra, the flower of England! It ought to be on our coat of arms instead of the lion and the unicorn. There will be no revolution in England while there are aspidistras in the windows. — George Orwell

Philanthropists themselves are often the first to admit that their philanthropy is aimed at preserving rather than redistributing wealth. — Linsey McGoey

Societies accomplished important goals that still elude politicians, specialists in public policy, social reformers, and philanthropists. They successfully created vast social and mutual aid networks among the poor that are now almost entirely absent in many atomistic inner cities. — David T. Beito

Philanthropy is often seen as society's risk capital. That means the onus is on philanthropists, nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs to innovate. But philanthropic innovation is not just about creating something new. It also means applying new thinking to old problems, processes and systems. — Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen

He is one of those wise philanthropists who, in a time of famine, would vote for nothing but a supply of toothpicks. — Douglas William Jerrold

When someone works for less pay than she can live on - when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently - then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The 'working poor,' as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else. — Barbara Ehrenreich

Statesmen, men of science, philanthropists, the acknowledged benefactors of their race, might pass away, and yet not leave the void which will be caused by the death of Charles Dickens. — The London Times

Virginians were no more angels or philanthropists than people to the north or to the south of them. They were moved by their affections, their interest, and their resentments, just as humanity is moved today. — John Sergeant Wise

I want to spread the message in the U.S. that there are good philanthropists in China, and not all are crazy spenders on luxury goods. — Chen Guangbiao

The most amazing philanthropists are people who are actually making a significant sacrifice. — Bill Gates

The 'working poor,' as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. — Barbara Ehrenreich

To get your name well enough known that you can run for a public office, some people do it by being great lawyers or philanthropists or business people or work their way up the political ladder. I happened to become known from a different route. — John Glenn

My giving story started with my parents - my late mother, Frances Arrillaga, who dedicated her life to philanthropic and community service, and my father, John Arrillaga, whose daily generosity of heart, mind, and hands-on contributions make him one of the most extraordinary philanthropists I know. — Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen

For A to sit down and think, What shall I do? is commonplace; but to think what B ought to do is interesting, romantic, moral, self-flattering, and public-spirited all at once. It satisfies a great number of human weaknesses at once. To go on and plan what a whole class of people ought to do is to feel one's self a power on earth, to win a public position, to clothe one's self in dignity. Hence we have an unlimited supply of reformers, philanthropists, humanitarians, and would-be managers-in-general of society. — William Graham Sumner

Most philanthropists would still rather donate to elite schools, concert halls or religious groups than help the poor or sick. — Noreena Hertz

As philanthropists, the most powerful legacy we can create is one that keeps on giving - through our children. — Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen

The philanthropists inquire whether Transcendentalism does not mean sloth: they had as lief hear that their friend is dead, as that he is a Transcendentalist; for then is he paralyzed, and can never do anything for humanity. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most museums in Moscow, like Tretyakov, were established by philanthropists, whose passion for art allowed the development of culture on many levels. — Dasha Zhukova

As I see it, most major philanthropists have been bullied into giving. They feel social pressure to give. It has become a cost of doing business. — Steven Levitt

I don't believe all rich people are selfless philanthropists. — Bernard Goldberg

The Hewitt sisters were these amazing - both sort of philanthropists and dilettantes who went out and single-handedly collected all of these of-the-moment designs in wallpaper and textiles and in graphic design in order to teach people about design. — Jake Barton

Hollywood was set up by a bunch of businessmen. They do not see their job as being philanthropists. I don't think it's a contradiction in terms to attempt to be a good businessman and to also be liberal. — Sydney Pollack

Pundits, opponents, and disillusioned supporters would blame Obama for squandering the promise of his administration. Certainly he and his administration made their share of mistakes. But it is hard to think of another president who had to face the kind of guerrilla warfare waged against him almost as soon as he took office. A small number of people with massive resources orchestrated, manipulated, and exploited the economic unrest for their own purposes. They used tax-deductible donations to fund a movement to slash taxes on the rich and cut regulations on their own businesses. While they paid focus groups and seasoned operatives to frame these self-serving policies as matters of dire public interest, they hid their roles behind laws meant to protect the anonymity of philanthropists, leaving more folksy figures like Santelli to carry the message. — Jane Mayer

There could be a powerful international women's rights movement if only philanthropists would donate as much to real women as to paintings and sculptures of women. — Nicholas D. Kristof

Philanthropists today want input into how their monies are being deployed. The big question is, can governments use this insight to sell the rich the idea of paying more tax rather than spend more on charitable giving? — Noreena Hertz

I also took issue with the practice of donors typically only funding programs instead of institutions ... That is a fine strategy for providing alms or direct charity. At the same time, no one would invest in a company and not expect it to pay for hiring great people, paying the rent, and keeping the lights on. We need philanthropists to build institutions in the social sector too. — Jacqueline Novogratz

Most organizations should be pro-active, but philanthropists concerned with poverty should deliberately be reactive, learning from the efforts of ordinary folks who tired of looking the other way as their communities fell apart. — Marvin Olasky

Secondly, the Philanthropists had not the good temper of the Pugilists, and used worse language. — Charles Dickens

There are philanthropists who, incapable of managing their own little affairs, take upon themselves those of the whole world; but as their creditors always outnumber their disciples, they owe humanity more than she will ever owe them. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

To evade such temptations is the first duty of the poet. For as the ear is the antechamber to the soul, poetry can adulterate and destroy more surely then lust or gunpowder. The poet's, then, is the highest office of all. His words reach where others fall short. A silly song of Shakespeare's has done more for the poor and the wicked than all the preachers and philanthropists in the world. — Virginia Woolf

If the barricades went up in our streets and the poor became masters, I think the priests would escape, I fear the gentlemen would; but I believe the gutters would simply be running with the blood of philanthropists. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

The poor can't wait. Philanthropists needed to carry on being generous. — Bill Gates

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. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ever were the rich folk, the pashas of Calimport, praised for their philanthropy, when in fact, the gold they so charitably gave actually cost them nothing in terms of their own standard of living. A poor woman might take in an orphaned boy, without fanfare, though the proportional cost was surely much higher. But, heigh-ho, all must cheer for those philanthropists! — R.A. Salvatore

The best philanthropy is not just about giving money but giving leadership. The best philanthropists bring the gifts that made them successful-the drive, the determination, the refusal to accept that something can't be done if it needs to be into their philanthropy. — Tony Blair

More good has been accomplished by simple people seeking their own honest ends than by all the philanthropists in history. — Robert Breault

I would like philanthropists to take more risks and invest more in risk capital. — Jacqueline Novogratz

In my view, philanthropy goes against the grain; therefore it generates a lot of hypocrisy and many paradoxes. Here are some examples: Philanthropy is supposed to be devoted to the benefit of others, but philanthropists are primarily concerned with their own benefit; philanthropy is supposed to help people, yet it often makes people dependent and turns them into objects of charity; applicants tell foundations what they want to hear, then proceed to do what the applicant wants to do. — George Soros

Philanthropists should find innovations that release the energies of people. Individuals don't want to be taken care of --they need to be given a chance to fulfill their own potential. (142) — Jacqueline Novogratz

I would say to young entrepreneurs and budding philanthropists - are you giving to feel good or do good? — Andrew Forrest

My father, one of the great entrepreneurs and philanthropists of this state, taught me that capital - monetary or political - is to be used to benefit others. I intend to continue that tradition. — Jon Huntsman Jr.