Quotes from Ron Chernow

Rockefeller handled people adroitly and wasn't the cold curmudgeon of later myth.

Many countries that Grant visited levied onerous taxes on their subjects to service massive debt and maintain standing armies, giving him a fresh appreciation of republican government in America. "The fact is we are the most progressive, freest and richest people on earth, but don't know it or appreciate it. Foreigners see this much plainer than we do.

Apparently he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

He stared into his eyes

Having helped Eliza keep the books, he enjoyed a head start.

One lady remembered seeing them together that summer "turn and laugh and play with a monkey that was climbing in a neighbor's yard.

With me it has always been a maxim rather to let my designs appear from my works than by my expressions.

As I began my life as a bookkeeper, I learned to have great respect for figures and facts, no matter how small they were.… I had a passion for detail which afterward I was forced to strive to modify.

William was a natural salesman who easily charmed people.

Others talked of bribery; of course nothing could be proved.

Mr. Rockefeller, maintaining the utmost courtesy, continued to dominate the room.

Earlier generations of biographers had to rely on only a meager portion of his voluminous output.

Washington grew as a leader because he engaged in searching self-criticism.

betrayed intense sympathy for the Union cause and fervently advocated abolishing slavery. As early as his 1854 high-school essay on freedom, he had railed against "cruel masters" who worked their slaves "beneath the scorching suns of the South. How under such circumstances can America call herself free?

Fisher Ames, always a shrewd observer of the scene, mused that "a spirit of faction . . . must soon come to a crisis." He foresaw that congressional Republicans would discard their comparatively decorous criticism of Washington's first term:

Hamilton seemed to spark controversy at every turn. At the time of his July Fourth oration, New York still had not selected its first two senators. Under the Constitution, this decision fell to state legislatures, insuring that local mandarins would have a disproportionate say in the matter.

insisted on having his own way.

This wasn't someone I had encountered in any biography.

awaiting the confirmation that soon came by telephone.

Jack wrote his mother how things couldn't proceed in New York in Pierpont's absence.

He gravitated toward women who were free and independent, sassy and high-spirited.

He said that the first holders were not simply noble victims, nor were the current buyers simply predatory speculators. The original investors had gotten cash when they wanted it and had shown little faith in the country's future. Speculators, meanwhile, had hazarded their money and should be rewarded for the risk.

I am profoundly, profoundly thankful that I had anything to do with this affair.

but he is kept in check by the Drexels.