Quotes from Ron Chernow

That Hamilton adhered to a code of gentlemanly honor was confirmed in yet another sideshow of the Benedict Arnold affair: the arrest of Major John André, adjutant general of the British Army and Arnold's contact, traveling under the nom de guerre John Anderson. As he awaited a hearing to decide his fate, he was confined at a tavern in Tappan, New York. Though seven years younger than André, Hamilton developed a sympathy for the prisoner

confined to an upstairs room much of the time.

Perhaps out of a self-protective instinct, Bill taught his children to be wary of strangers and even of himself.

Frank wanted to have it both ways: to be heavily indebted to his brothers yet operate free of their control.

Yet again he contemplated giving up business. An

always inner-directed and indifferent to the approval of others

Trying to equalize his status with his brothers, Frank lived on a lavish scale that far outstripped his income.

As early as 1882, he lamented to the Reverend Edward Judson that he was swamped by charitable appeals, many from Baptist causes.

Yet financial differences quickly soured his relations with Morgan.

Her father was slowly dying of stomach cancer while she was writing her series, and this might have further embittered her toward Rockefeller

I suppose there may be something in what you say, though I had never thought of it in that way before.

He spent winters at the Villa Henriette in Monte Carlo, which had a beautiful view of the Mediterranean.

Rockefeller placed a premium on internal harmony and tried to reconcile his contending chieftains. A laconic man, he liked to canvass everyone's opinion before expressing his own and then often crafted a compromise to maintain cohesion. He was always careful to couch his decisions as suggestions or questions

For such a perfectionist, giving money away was fraught with far more nervous tension than making it.

Nothing could keep him from his morning game.

Contrary to her father's predictions, Ida inflicted far more damage on Standard Oil than she received in return.

After Rockefeller threatened legal action, Dr. Smith settled for $500.

You must distribute it faster than it grows! If you do not, it will crush you and your children and your children's children.

September 9, Washington had had enough. "If the laws are to be trampled upon with impunity," he said, "and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government.

that he had hardly been ill in his life.

This refusal to truckle, bend, or bow to others, this insistence on dealing with other people on his own terms, time, and turf, distinguished Rockefeller throughout his career.

He knew that the railroads felt threatened by the pipelines, and for a time he thought it worthwhile to help them safeguard their interests by delaying the introduction of this new technology.

Conforming to tradition, the convention sent a delegation to Grant with official notice of his nomination. In return, he scratched out a statement that mostly dealt in standard rhetoric, concluding with four words that formed the slogan of his campaign and remained irreversibly associated with him: "Let us have peace.

He valued money too highly to dispense it lightly and wanted to investigate all requests before acting upon them.