Quotes from Ron Chernow

By spotlighting the issue of intent, Hamilton identified the criteria for libel that still hold sway in America today: that the writing in question must be false, defamatory, and malicious.

it used its prestige to stretch the limits of acceptable behavior

he had positively no gift, except that of making money.

Husband and wife had little in common

However much Grant enjoyed his Parisian rambles and glimpses of quotidian life, he was mystified about the charms American expatriates found there. I have walked over the city so thoroughly that the streets are quite familiar to me, he told Buck, his provincial roots showing. The city is beautiful, but I do not see the inducements for so many Americans remaining here year after year who are not engaged in business. I certainly should prefer any of our large cities as a residence.p871

In dueling with Scott, Rockefeller didn't try to demolish him—as Scott might have done to him—but called a truce to strengthen their alliance.

It was testimony to Rockefeller's thoroughgoing sense of responsibility that he preserved each letter for review at home.

It is not easy to part with the wealth we have accumulated after years of hard work and difficulty

winning at any cost.

sometimes lacked the strength to travel. By

This policy, which kept colleagues from defecting and forming competing companies, was one of many expensive extravagances that accompanied the creation of the monopoly.

His constant aim was to be conciliatory whenever possible and extend his range of influence.

It was the northern economic system that embodied the mix of democracy and capitalism that was to constitute the essence of America in the long run.

In 1870 he oversaw creation of the Justice Department, its first duty to bring thousands of anti-Klan indictments. By 1872 the monster had been slain, although its spirit resurfaced as the nation retreated from Reconstruction's lofty aims. Grant presided over the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave blacks the right to vote, and landmark civil rights legislation, including the 1875 act outlawing racial discrimination in public accommodations.

Science today owes as much to the rich men of generosity and discernment

Around this time, Hamilton chatted with Burr about an appointment. Aware of bad blood between him and Washington, Hamilton asked Burr whether he could serve faithfully under the general. Burr unhesitatingly replied that "he despised Washington as a man of no talents and one who could not spell a sentence of common English.

Had the action not been taken, more than half the brokerage houses on Wall Street might have gone belly-up.

I do not know of any firm to suggest at the moment, but why not run them ourselves?

He had long lived with the knowledge of man's sinful nature.

Kitty] was the type of woman Hamilton found irresistible: pretty, coquettish, somewhat spoiled, and always ready for flirtatious banter.

In retirement, Adams mused that if Burr had become a brigadier general in 1798, it might have tethered him to the Federalists and assured his own reelection in 1800. Indeed, Adams was right in one respect: Washington blundered by recruiting only Federalists to top military positions, while Adams had wished to include two Republicans—Burr and Frederick Muhlenberg—as brigadiers. Had the army taken on a more bipartisan complexion, it might well have been more popular.

His whole soul was enlisted in the cause and in contending for the rights of the jury and a free press, he considered that he was establishing the surest refuge against oppression.

Her hardships tapped some deep reserve of strength and wisdom in the simple country woman

he congratulated her for her better health