Jeff Ragan’s Reviews > Be My Guest > Status Update

"The true fruits of successful living are not material. They are contentment, the joy of usefulness, growth through the fulfillment of our particular talent. Viewed this way God is always on the side of success for he objective is fulfilling a talent He gave, and which He will support and maintain" (279).

"Peace is more than the absence of war. It is a tranquility of order, it is security, liberty - religious, political and economic freedom. It is life with honor, life with the dignity of the children of God" (268).

"In any system of hotels we have found that each must be an individual personality, geared to the demands of its particular city and country" (259).

"Our most dramatic moment occurred when Dame Nature got out of hand. Actor Leo Carrillo was on the stage when a crackling thunderstorm caused a power failure. As if it had been a rehearsed part of his act Carrillo stood a moment in the pitch darkness and then a single match flame blossomed. In the words of Father Keller he announced: 'It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness'" (242).

"...if business didn't cross frontiers, armies would" (232).

"I was proud of the corporation and proud of the men who were its elected officers. Bob Williford, once key clerk at the Dallas Hilton, now executive vice-president of the corporation... Red Ellison, bellboy, Abilene, vice-president in charge of the Western Division; Joe Binns, ex-Colonel in World War II, once manager of the Stevens, vice-president in charge of the Eastern Division" (218-9).

"Once when Nick showed up with a pair of outrageously expensive alligator shoes (charged to my account) I was absolutely shocked. 'Nick,' I said sternly, 'I have never paid that much for a pair of shoes in my entire life.' 'Ah,' said Nick, who had a kind of candid humor in which there was no trace of impudence, 'but you never had a rich father'" (204).

I myself needed time for my wounds to heal. My headlong descent was arrested but I did not instantly regain normal perspective. For the abrupt switch between fighting for life and dreaming again the big dreams necessary to forward motion, I needed a little time" (171).

"Like the Depression itself, what happened to Mary and me didn't come all at once. But, as I floundered through my valley, fighting desperately day and night to keep my footing, little by little the laughter went out of Mary's eyes" (153).

"The project closest to my heart, the one that came first, was the El Paso Hilton. In the fall of 1929, I announced that we would build a hotel on Pioneer Plaza costing $1,750,000. Nineteen days later the stock market crashed" (149).