Quotes from Ron Chernow

Somewhat paranoid to begin with, he assumed every tradesman was an extortion artist

and the power balance within the Morgan empire began to tip from London to New York.

Hamilton had analyzed his own rejection thus: "I am a stranger in this country. I have no property here, no connections. If I have talents and integrity…these are justly deemed very spurious titles in these enlightened days.

Junior was making progress after his breakdown but was still weak;

By now, monarchy and aristocracy were standard code words for Hamilton and the Federalists.

I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances.

These same banks, ironically, would shortly be hauled before the Pujo Committee as the abominable Money Trust. What the public wouldn't know was that the Money Trust had been forged, in part, by Washington itself in its quest for foreign influence.

Though he rejected champagne as too expensive in his last days

Our opponents have sometimes tried to make it appear that we are attacking a race when we denounced the financial policy of the Rothschilds.

He also saw competition as a destructive, inefficient force and instinctively favored large-scale combination as the cure.

For all his success in bottling up pipeline bills, Rockefeller couldn't scotch the Tidewater.

if he failed to reach that level, Rockefeller would make up the difference.

No governm[en]t could give us tranquillity and happiness at home, which did not possess sufficient stability and strength to make us respectable abroad.

Well, Grant, We've had the devil's own day, haven't we? Sherman remarked. Yes, replied Grant with a drag on his cigar. Lick 'em tomorrow though. p205

Of all the family medical problems, the most worrisome was that of Bessie.

These horror stories about Hamilton have been regurgitated for two centuries and are now engraved on the memories of historians and readers alike. Unfortunately, these vignettes often cruelly misrepresent Hamilton and have done no small damage to his reputation. Jefferson understood very well the power of laying down a paper trail.

Once Hamilton was initiated into the cause of American liberty, his life acquired an even more headlong pace that never slackened.

Adieu best of wives and best of women. Embrace all my darling children for me.

the dividing line will not be Mason & Dixons but between patriotism, & intelligence on the one side & superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other.

It was the first time I had ever seen him show any but pleasant feeling, and there could be no doubt that he was aflame with anger and resentment.

But we are not, we are as much opposed to the financial policy of J. Pierpont Morgan as we are to the financial policy of the Rothschilds."14

Liberty produces wealth, and wealth destroys liberty.

He seemed always to be thinking." In many respects, John was forgettable and indistinguishable from many other boys.

John D. Rockefeller drew strength by simplifying reality and strongly believed that excessive reflection upon unpleasant but unalterable events only weakened one's resolve in the face of enemies.