“The rich world likes and wishes to believe that someone, somewhere, is doing something for the Third World. For this reason, it does not inquire too closely into the motives or practices of anyone who fulfills, however vicariously, this mandate.”
Source: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Christopher Hitchens 305
British American author and journalist 1949–2011Related quotes

As quoted in The Outer Limits of Reason: What Science, Mathematics, and Logic Cannot Tell Us (MIT Press) 2013 by Yanofsky, Noson S

unless you're not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.
Does this sound dismal? It isn't.
It's the most wonderful life on earth.
Or so I feel.
E. E. Cummings
A Poet's Advice (1958)

As quoted in Durrell: The Authorised Biography (1999) http://books.google.com/books?id=iyRFAAAAYAAJ&q="Look+at+it+this+way+Anyone+who+has+got+any+pleasure+at+all+from+living+should+try+to+put+something+back+life+is+like+a+superlative+meal+and+the+world+is+the+maitre+d'hotel+What+I+am+doing+is+the+equivalent+of+leaving+a+reasonable+tip"Gerald by Douglas Botting
Context: A sparrow can be as interesting as a bird of paradise, the behaviour of a mouse as interesting as that of a tiger. Our planet is beautifully intricate, brimming over with enigmas to be solved and riddles to be unravelled.
Many people think that conservation is just about saving fluffy animals – what they don’t realise is that we’re trying to prevent the human race from committing suicide … We have declared war on the biological world, the world that supports us … At the moment the human race is in the position of a man sawing off the tree branch he is sitting on.
Look at it this way. Anyone who has got any pleasure at all from living should try to put something back. Life is like a superlative meal and the world is the maître d'hôtel. What I am doing is the equivalent of leaving a reasonable tip. … I'm glad to be giving something back because I've been so extraordinarily lucky and had such great pleasure from it.

“Somewhere around the world someone would love to have my first world problems”
Musical Works, Last of the Ghetto Astronauts, The War is Over/Omissions Of The Omen

1880s
Source: Ibid, January 1886 https://www.history.com/news/teddy-roosevelt-race-imperialism-national-parks
Pax Neo-Tech. http://www.neo-tech.com/neotech/pax-b1/c3.php

In response to question by Tim Russert on how he would respond if George W. Bush asked him to be his vice presidential running mate in 2000. Interview on Meet the Press. Originally aired 3 March 2000. Aired again as a clip 15 June 2008 ( transcript http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25171251/page/3/).
2000s