Jacqueline Novogratz Quotes - Page 2

Things are always harder than you think they're going to be.

We need moral leadership and courage in our world.

In today's world, the elites are growing even more comfortable with one another across national lines, yet at the same time, less comfortable with low-income people who share their nationality. How we create those bonds of community that are truly global as well as national is one of our generation's great challenges.

Our lives are so short. And our time on this planet is so precious. All we have is each other.

You should focus on being more interested than interesting.

Four billion people on Earth make less than four dollars a day.

Each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And it's in the total of all those acts that the history of this generation will be written.

Failure can be an incredibly motivating force.

What is the cost of not daring? What is the cost of not trying?

Human beings tend not to spend money on health preventionally. We tend to spend it on top treatment.

Poverty is not only about income levels, but for lack of freedom that comes from physical insecurity

I'm relentless in that I deeply believe in people.

The time for change is now.

What we really yearn for as human beings is to be visible.

As a young woman, I dreamed of changing the world. In my twenties, I went to Africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed, when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce.

1.5 billion people lack proper access to electricity. Many buy kerosene, which can cost 30 percent of their income. It sends millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. And often the lamp will fall over and catch the house on fire. So mothers hate it, but it's their only option.

Dignity is more important than wealth.

What would the world look like if we asked ourselves the following more often; are our actions helping others find a way to feel more freer, more dignified and more beautiful?

People need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live

I have seen that traditional approaches to charity and aid don't solve problems of poverty. In fact, too often they create dependence.

I believe the government should ensure all children are provided with a good education.

People have to understand that unless social enterprise is experimental, it will not succeed in making a difference.

Don't let people tell you to do it this way. You are on the verge of figuring out hybrid models -- with companies and nonprofits, markets, government, crowd-sourced philanthropy. The capitalist system as we know it is not working.

For too much of history, we've viewed the world's precious resources - both environmental and human - as things to extract, to make the most of in order to maximize their potential.

Acumen Fund's patient capital investment in Western Seed is intended to enhance the food security and economic independence of Kenya's smallholder farmers.