Jacqueline Novogratz Quotes

10 Sourced Quotes

I finally understood: In order to contribute to Africa, I would have to know myself better and be clearer about my goals. I would have to be ready to take Africa on its own terms, not mine, and to learn my limits and present myself not as a do-gooder with a big heart, but as someone with something to give and gain by being there. Compassion wasn't enough

Jacqueline Novogratz
Just start Don't wait for perfection. Just start and let the work teach you.

Jacqueline Novogratz
Why do some people stop growing at age 30, just going from work to the couch and television, when others stay vibrant, curious, almost childlike into their nineties?

Jacqueline Novogratz
I've learned that there is no currency like trust and no catalyst like hope. There is nothing worse for building relationships than pandering, on one hand, and preaching, on the other. And the most important quality we must all strengthen in ourselves is that of a deep human empathy, for that will provide the most hope of all and the foundation for our collective survival.

Jacqueline Novogratz
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.

Jacqueline Novogratz
How you see where you are always depends on where you've been.

Jacqueline Novogratz
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

Jacqueline Novogratz
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.

Jacqueline Novogratz
Africa can stun you in an instant. It can throw floods and drought and disease at you, sometimes all at the same time. In the next moment, it will tease you with its magnificent beauty, so even if you don't forget, you can find a way to forgive. Ultimately, it keeps you coming back for more.

Jacqueline Novogratz
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...

Jacqueline Novogratz