Abraham George Quotes: His Words on Education, Service and India
The Abraham George quotes collected here come from Abraham M. George, the former Indian Army officer, New York banker and financial software entrepreneur who founded The George Foundation in 1995 and Shanti Bhavan, a free residential school for children from India's lowest socioeconomic class, in 1997. Each quote appeared in a published interview, article, podcast or written message, listed with its source and year.
Abraham George quotes on purpose and the army
Abraham George served as an artillery officer on the India-China border, where he was injured in a dynamite blast while building a bunker.
"It was this accident that led me to reflect on why I was spared in the explosion and the purpose of my life. It led me to think of devoting my life, at some stage, to serving the poor."
(Authority Magazine, 2022)
He left the army as a captain and moved to the United States in 1968.
"Somewhere along the line during that time in the army, I had made up my mind to be involved in developmental work."
(PassBlue, 2017)
He acted on that decision in 1995, when he returned to India.
What did Abraham George say about education?
"I strongly believe that the path to social justice is through economic opportunity from a good education and proper upbringing."
(Authority Magazine, 2022)
Shanti Bhavan was designed around this idea. It takes children at about age four and supports them through college at no cost to their families.
"You cannot build Shanti Bhavan with money alone. You have to build it with your heart."
(Duke Global, 2024)
Duke Global quoted him in its January 2024 feature "Building Shanti Bhavan, a School of Hope." Alongside classes, children receive food, medical care and mentorship, with staff looking after them around the clock.
"Skeptics told me that children from disadvantaged families cannot succeed. But together, we have proven them wrong."
(Shanti Bhavan website, 2025)
He wrote it for the school's Shanti Bhavan 2 page. The second campus, north of Bangalore, opened in 2024 with 60 young children.
Abraham George quotes on poverty and justice
"It was an issue of social justice for me. I was in the United States, having had the opportunity to get a good education and start a career from scratch. I felt that I should be helpful to people who do not have the same means, those at the bottom of the ladder in India."
(PassBlue, 2017)
By then he had earned an MBA and a PhD from New York University and built a career in finance.
"I was driven by my desire to help those in poverty to overcome their hardship in one generation, by bringing up their children to be professionally successful."
(NPR, 2021)
NPR's Goats and Soda blog quoted him in a 2021 story about four college freshmen from India. Shanti Bhavan describes its commitment to each child as running "from the first day of school to the first day of work."
What did Abraham George say about giving back?
"I tell the children who are graduating from Shanti Bhavan that you have a moral duty to carry at least 100 others with you in your lifetime..."
(Care More Be Better podcast, 2024)
Duke Global's 2024 feature reported this challenge too: each graduate is asked to carry 100 others through life.
"Compassion in action. You must be prepared to put your compassion into an action, whether through money or time."
(Care More Be Better podcast, 2024)
"Compassion in action" is a phrase he returns to. He used it again on the Remarkable People podcast in 2025, and it appears in the publisher's description of his 2026 memoir, Mountains to Cross.
Abraham George on business and integrity
"I want to dedicate my life to make lives better for these people. I didn't know how to do it, but I knew I had to make a lot of money to do it."
(The Gould Standard, 2017)
He was explaining how business would fund his plan to help India's poor. He started Multinational Computer Models, a currency-risk software company, in the basement of his Montclair, New Jersey, home in the 1970s. SunGard acquired it in 1998.
"When you're confronted with a situation, ask yourself a simple question. What is the right thing to do? Do that."
(Remarkable People podcast, 2025)
He gave this advice on integrity to host David Pasqualone. On credibility with clients, he put it in one line: "You don't have credibility, you have nothing."
Abraham George quotes on India
"We have an environmental health crisis in India. It is a national disgrace that we have collectively allowed lead poisoning to affect millions of our children and others."
(Hinduism Today, 2002)
The George Foundation ran Project Lead-Free from 1997 and held an international lead conference in Bangalore in 1999. That work contributed to public-health advocacy around India's April 2000 phase-out of leaded petrol.
In a message for the foundation-stone ceremony in April 2000, he wrote:
"Citizenship is more than voting; it means participating in the dialogue of democracy."
(IIJNM foundation-stone message, 2000)
The ceremony marked the start of the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media in Bangalore, which he founded. The postgraduate school trained journalists for more than two decades before closing in 2024.
Abraham George on running a philanthropy
"A clear mission and vision for your work are crucial. Without them, it's like sailing in rough seas without a destination."
(Authority Magazine, 2022)
He gave the advice to people starting nonprofits. He has led Shanti Bhavan as founder and chief executive for nearly three decades.
"I've made a choice: I don't want to touch government money."
(Care More Be Better podcast, 2024)
When he set up The George Foundation in 1995, he chose not to seek outside funding for its first ten years.
Frequently asked questions
What are Abraham George's best-known quotes?
Abraham George told Duke Global in 2024, "You cannot build Shanti Bhavan with money alone. You have to build it with your heart." In 2022 he told Authority Magazine that the path to social justice runs through economic opportunity from a good education and proper upbringing.
What did Abraham George say about education and poverty?
Abraham George argues that good education creates economic opportunity, and that economic opportunity is the route to social justice. He told NPR in 2021 that his aim was to help families overcome poverty in one generation by bringing up their children to be professionally successful. Shanti Bhavan supports its students from about age four through college with that goal in mind.
What does Abraham George mean by "compassion in action"?
Abraham George uses the phrase to say that caring about a problem is not enough without action. On the Care More Be Better podcast in 2024 he said, "You must be prepared to put your compassion into an action, whether through money or time." He repeated the idea on the Remarkable People podcast in 2025.
Where do these Abraham George quotes come from?
Every Abraham George quote on this page comes from a published source: Authority Magazine, PassBlue, NPR, Duke Global, The Gould Standard, Hinduism Today and the Shanti Bhavan website, plus transcripts of the Care More Be Better and Remarkable People podcasts. The line on citizenship comes from his written message for the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media foundation-stone ceremony in April 2000.