George Kaiser

If you are born into poverty, the chances are good that your children will be born into poverty. Find a way to give poor kids the same cognitive stimulus that rich kids receive, and they should end up with the same tools for success. ”

Maybe the perceived fact that smart, rich parents tended to have smart, rich kids was largely due to the fact that they also tended to have stay-at-home moms or nannies who read to their kids, held them, put mobiles over their cribs, playing those annoying ditties, and sent them off for SAT training at six months. ”

Rich, smart parents tend to have rich, smart kids - not because it's genetic but because they can create a home environment and sensory stimulation that lower-income kids often don't get. ”

I prefer doing things rather than sitting around talking about doing things. ”

Those who have won the ovarian lottery by being born in an advanced society to loving parents have a special obligation to help restore the American Dream. ”

During the desperate depression of the 1980s, there were no oil and gas companies without net operating losses. ”

Naming rights are a seductive philanthropic inducement, yet more anonymous operational support may better advance the charitable purpose. ”

In the charitable world as in the business world, opportunities should drive budgets, not the other way around. ”

America's 'social contract' is equal opportunity... yet we have failed in achieving that seminal goal. ”

Truly, learning appears to be a reverse geometric progression with experiences at one hour, one day, one month or one year dramatically more influential and formative than later experiences. As has often been quoted, 85% of brain development takes place by age 3, and yet we spend only 4% of our educational dollars by that point. ”