Quotes from Ron Chernow

I bore it in silence. It does no good to dispute with such a man.

Congress was chased like a covey of partridges from Philadelphia to Trenton, from Trenton to Lancaster," Adams wrote with his usual gift for evocative language.

As Standard Oil's leading figure, he was the only person who didn't have any direct operational responsibility.

Rockefeller reviewed every bill that arrived at home and often patrolled the hallways, turning off gaslights.

Rockefeller hated being pressured, and Gates always believed that had Harper asked for less, Rockefeller would have willingly given much more.

coaxed America into war for profit.

and I could not think of giving an answer until I have looked over the books of the firm and have some idea of the business and of the methods by which it is done.

By threatening to strip the others of their oil traffic, the Pennsylvania had placed the Erie and New York Central in a vulnerable position, and Rockefeller and Flagler decided to use this leverage to wring extreme concessions from them.

Instead, statesmanlike, he applied himself to general policy and monitored the performance of lieutenants, who sent him copious reports about their activities

Such habits were not simply reflexive stinginess but were rooted in bedrock beliefs about the value of money.

Following his father's example, he recorded every expense in his little book

He seemed to age a generation.

In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expedient, fickleness, and folly."15 Increasingly Hamilton despaired of pure democracy, of politicians simply catering to the popular will, and favored educated leaders who would enlighten

It is revealing that Morgan didn't leap at the fortune but responded with cool self-control.

Rockefeller had positioned himself exactly where he wished to be—poised to profit from either surplus or scarcity and all but immune to the vagaries of the marketplace.

In creating this self-protective structure, Rockefeller could run Standard Oil while simultaneously sidestepping responsibility, erasing incriminating evidence, and avoiding contact with his victims.

Harper made an appeal for more money, despite the previous year's shortfall.

It was all very pleasant and balmy, supremely beautiful and languid, if you were white, were rich, and turned a blind eye to the black population expiring in the canebrakes.

Whitney brought in his friends Edwin Webster, Chandler Hovey, and Albert H. Gordon to take over the company's name and goodwill.

No matter what the excitement, John retained his quietude and smiled on all occasions.

In fact, it was the unparalleled scope of his operation that had enabled him to cut this exceptional deal in the first place.

Standard might soon be in a position to eliminate their oil traffic at whim.

With such uncommon respect for the dollar, he couldn't cope with the psychological demands of the University of Chicago and other philanthropic commitments.

He endorsed the dollar as the basic currency, divided into smaller coins on a decimal basis. Because many Americans still bartered, Hamilton wanted to encourage the use of coins. As part of his campaign to foster a market economy, Hamilton suggested introducing a wide variety of coins, including gold and silver dollars, a ten-cent silver piece, and copper coins of a cent or half cent.