Quotes from Ron Chernow

Later on Washington's childless state helped him to assume the title of Father of His Country. That he wasn't a biological father made it easier for him to be the allegorical father of a nation. It also retired any fears, when he was president, that the nation might revert to a monarchy, because he could have no interest in a hereditary crown.

Johnson tried to persuade Rockefeller that these skills would serve him well in golf.

Then, overnight, the alopecia seemed to equalize their ages.

The doctors found evidence of cancer but were unsure of their diagnosis and delayed telling him until February 1905.

And didn't the new Constitution, by fostering a dominant central government, imitate the British model against which the colonists had rebelled?

When the XYZ papers were published, they proved a bonanza for the Federalists, and John Adams attained the zenith of his popularity as president.

so the bank had a heavy stake in the status quo.

Delenda est Carthago: Carthage must be destroyed and obliterated.

Far from trying to parade his wealth, he wanted to blend into the scenery.

While Rockefeller made it seem as if such shenanigans occurred far from his sphere, he was fully briefed by Thompson, who liked to boast of his maneuvers.

John, I might have known it. You do things better and more easily than anyone else.

In fact, Washington wasn't nonchalant and could be exacting and quick to take offense.

As we say out West, if a man can't skin he must hold a leg while somebody else does.

McGregor won Rockefeller's absolute trust on all technical matters.

Although scheduled to start in early March, the House and Senate took more than a month to muster quorums. In a significant piece of symbolism, the House met on the ground floor of Federal Hall and provided open galleries for visitors.

John "was still her hero after all the years.

I want to see Hamilton.

Julia's brother Lewis, who remained in California, allowed them to use his house "Wish-ton-wish"—an Indian term meaning whip-poor-will—

We were beginning to prosper and I felt very uneasy at my name being linked up with these speculators.

Rockefeller molded his house for his own use, not to awe strangers.

Though Potts wished to fight on, Scott was inclined to relent.

Meanwhile, the secretive Senate met upstairs in a chamber without a spectator section. For the first five years, senators conducted their business behind closed doors.

It is, in my opinion, the opportunity of a lifetime, one of those opportunities, the seizing or failing to seize, which marks the difference between success and failure in life."84

In an early version of the letter, never sent, Gates was even more outspoken.