The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

by Daniel Yergin

the bazaar—trading and dealing, intrigue, baksheesh, and the acquisition of information that could be put to advantageous use. He also developed his lifelong passion for hard work, his capacity for vision, and his great skills as a negotiator. Whenever he could, he would control a situation. But when he could not, he would follow an old Arab proverb that he liked to quote, “The hand you dare not bite, kiss it.” In those early business years in Constantinople, he also cultivated his patience and perseverance, which some said were his greatest assets. He was not prone to budge. “It would have been easier,” someone later said, “to squeeze granite than Mr. Gulbenkian.”