Quotes About Wealth

National City became known as the oil bank, much as J. P. Morgan and Company would be called the steel bank.

Rockefeller knew that he was overpaying but couldn't resist a deal that would certify his position as the world's largest oil refiner at age thirty-one.

Then it grew steadily clearer that Junior would be the receptacle for the bulk of the fortune.

Rockefeller was fortunate to have applied his money at the precise moment that medical research matured as a discipline and offered unbounded opportunities.

Perhaps he did not think Junior could live with the moral ambiguities of a fortune extracted by dubious methods.

Rockefeller also favored Archbold because he was wedded to Standard Oil business, whereas Rogers was often distracted by other interests.

He hoarded his money, worked incessantly, and retained a lonely air.

It is hard to exaggerate the power that Pierpont accrued.

As at Standard Oil, Rockefeller insisted upon keeping a cash balance that never dipped below $10 million.

Since he also had a sizable stake in U.S. government bonds, he felt he could play the market with impunity.

Senior must have feared that the stupendous weight of the fortune would crush his delicate son.

A born contrarian, Rockefeller insisted upon buying in declining markets and selling in rising ones.

Junior would have inherited both the controversy and the legal liability that went with the stock.

Rockefeller did not show any anxiety about the absence of security

By the spring of 1891, Rockefeller began to develop the queasy sense that Harper regarded his money as a blank check to cover annual deficits.

Although Rockefeller never said so outright, one senses that he thought Flagler had become a slave to fashion and ostentation, a traitor to the austere puritanical creed that had united them.

Rockefeller eventually realized that medical research ideally suited his needs.

To some extent, Rockefeller sent out conflicting messages and was partly to blame for Harper's profligacy.

Ida Alice seemed determined to run through Flagler's money, gathering an expensive wardrobe and trying to buy her way into New York high society.

Nevertheless, the general public came away with the impression that John D. was pulling the strings.

Pierpont selected partners not by wealth or to fortify the bank's capital but based on brains and talent.

Perhaps Rockefeller really did have God on his side, for his barrels survived the flooding intact.

Had he not been unfairly implicated, Rockefeller might have enjoyed the rebuke delivered to Rogers.

While Tarbell's articles were running, Rockefeller, his wife, his son, and two of his three daughters were afflicted by serious medical problems or nervous strain.