Henry David Thoreau Quotes

The great thing is these days I no longer have to work for a living and that all of the things that I'm able to do where money is paid as compensation for whatever it be, I'm able to donate all of that to charity. That's a wonderful position to find yourself in at the latest stages of your life and I'm proud to have walked the path that I have and I'm proud to be able to continue working and to be able to give away what I earn to some very good causes here in the Southwest.

I'm like Robin Hood. I rob the rich to make these projects come alive... not really rob. It's done with a smile.

I had one idea that never changed in my mind - that you should use your wealth to help people.

If I had not played basketball and made the millions of dollars that I had made, I would never have been able to build a hospital in Congo. It started in 1997, and 10 years later I was able to unveil the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, named after my mother, in my hometown outside of Kinshasa. It was such a blessing.

I have enjoyed the personal use of money; but I have gotten the greatest satisfaction from using it to advance my beliefs in human relations, human values.

I think that people who make a lot of money - and I do - should certainly give a considerable amount of it away.

I hope that by joining The Giving Pledge, it will encourage others to do the same.

Over a three year period, I gave away half of what I had. To be honest, my hands shook as I signed it away. I knew I was taking myself out of the race to be the richest man in the world.

I'm going to give all my money away, eventually. I don't believe in all this hand-down stuff. Even if I had kids, I don't think I'd want to give them everything.

Anybody who gives away money is mostly looking at things where they think they can make a difference. I'm trying to help people who helped me, educational institutions that helped me with scholarships, or organizations that were very useful to me in growing up.

Fortunately, I have money that's from my life's work. But it's money that I share and used greatly to fight poverty in my country.

If you have more money than you need, you have to give it away. It's a duty. I get to choose whom to sponsor, and I like to give to the areas that I know something about.

He is the richest man who enriches his country most; in whom the people feel richest and proudest; who gives himself with his money; who opens the doors of opportunity widest to those about him; who is ears to the deaf, eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.

We have a new generation of very rich people who want to do more with their money than buy a lot of expensive toys. They want to live meaningful lives.

At the beginning, you are 20 and you can just imagine... don't get me wrong, but having money. Then you realise that it's not only about you and what you are doing but that you have to give back.

More money gives me the chance to help more people, to give something back.

Parents realize their wealth should be used for social good rather than children's good.

A lot of people making a lot of money, billion, billions of dollars accumulating. Why are they coming for, finally, for philanthropy? Why the need for accumulating money, then doing philanthropy? What if one decided to start philanthropy from the day one?

Don't hoard your wealth. Instead, live the life you want with the wealth you have been blessed with, but also make it beneficial for the good of the larger community.

I was born to Haitian parents, and the idea of giving back is really just a part of our culture. So, I don't think there was ever a moment that I questioned my call to philanthropy, but I can say that the more I've grown, the bigger that call has become.

Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?

Philanthropy is lost. The human spirit is suppressed. Most people want a legacy; they want to give something back, a library, a hospital wing, a donation to their church. This is a form of socialism that must go.

Giving back has to do with the way I was brought up and the fact that I've traveled widely and seen terrible situations in the world. To sleep well at night, those of us who are in a position to help must address these situations. I'd get far greater satisfaction out of, say, walking into a hospital I'd built in South Africa than I would by sitting on a beach. I'm fortunate enough to be in a position to make a difference, and I don't want to waste that. I suspect I was also lucky to have parents who drove me from a young age.

Once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest that one owns belongs to the poor.

Philanthropy is not about the money. It's about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips and applying them to improving the world.