Quotes from Ron Chernow

Doubleday wanted to replace the image of the forbidding Rockefeller with that of the easygoing man he had come to know.

the Erie Railroad, to travel to Kane, a scenic spot in western

Washington chose Wayne to lead a picked force of 1,350 infantry to mount a surprise raid against the new British outpost at Stony Point. The commander sketched out a plan to scale the 150-foot-high cliff overhanging the river, prompting Wayne, according to legend, to boast, "I'll storm hell, sir, if you'll make the plans!"21 To which Washington retorted drily, "Better try Stony Point first, general.

reassure worried investors

By all accounts, Bill was a man of abundant talents.

Since he found numbers so clean and soothing in their simplicity, he applied the business principles of Hewitt and Tuttle to his own personal economy.

Rockefeller cited the years 1869 and 1870 as the start of his campaign to replace competition with cooperation in the industry.

Since he was seldom seen, people often wondered about his whereabouts.

While briefly serving on the Spelman board of trustees, he preferred to remain slightly detached and subtly enigmatic, never telegraphing his plans too far in advance.

Luckily for Rockefeller, the lightbulb didn't instantly drive out kerosene: It took time for Edison to cover the country with power stations, and by 1885 only 250,000 lightbulbs shone across America.

He was just plain John, the next-door neighbor.

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing. It will be powerful cement of our union.

Washington replied, "I always knew Colonel Hamilton to be a man of superior talents, but never supposed that he had any knowledge of finance." "He knows everything, sir," Morris replied. "To a mind like his nothing comes amiss.

There was now enormous British ambivalence toward Pierpont.

Although he never set eyes on the Italian Renaissance building

I was quiet and self-controlled.

Now proscribed from asking Rockefeller for more money, Harper forfeited the easy access he had long cherished.

On July 16, the thick gloom finally lifted at Philadelphia when delegates agreed to a grand bargain, the so-called Connecticut Compromise, proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut and others. The major conflicts at the convention had perhaps hinged less on the question of federal versus state power than on how federal representation was apportioned among the states.

He craved a privacy impossible for the world's most famous banker.

Rockefeller advised Daniel O'Day that Standard Oil should develop its own strength in this area rather than turning to outsiders.

While they thought they were leading me into a trap, I let them go into the trap themselves.

when prohibited from talking about money directly to Rockefeller, Harper circumvented the ban by praying aloud for money in his presence.

Poison-pen artists on both sides wrote vitriolic essays that were overtly partisan, often paid scant heed to accuracy, and sought a visceral impact.

The basic weakness with America's railroad system was overbuilding, which forced the roads into endless rounds of rate cuts and wage cuts to service debt. At the same time, the massive power of their largest consumers—notably Rockefeller in oil and Carnegie in steel—forced them to grant preferential rebates to big shippers, enraging small western farmers and businessmen and stimulating calls for government regulation.