American Colossus Quotes

“In imperial relationships, getting out proves much more complicated than getting in.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Both sides had more confidence in their opponents' weaknesses than their own strength.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“It may be that the voice of the people is the voice of God 51 times out of 100. But the remaining 49 times, it is the voice of the devil, or worse, the voice of a fool. Theodore Roosevelt”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Grant made the perfect candidate, a war hero with indistinct views on most political issues.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“The fundamental commodity bought and sold in financial markets is information, and once information slipped the bonds of gravity and friction it tended to cluster where it was most valuable - that is, in the largest markets.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“The relative prices of [gold and greenbacks] fluctuated according to the laws of supply and demand, and the fluctuating attracted speculators, who tried to anticipate the direction of the market. From anticipation to manipulation was a short, tempting step.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“When I speak, I speak to the point, and when I act in earnest, I act to the point. If a man minds his own business, I let him alone, but if he crosses my path, he must get out of the way.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus

“Before going there I had a good deal of the then rather prevalent idea among our people that to secure an education meant to have a good, easy time, free from all necessity for manual labour. At Hampton I not only learned that it was not a disgrace to labour, but learned to love labour, not alone for its financial value, but for labour’s own sake and for the independence and self-reliance which the ability to do something the world wants done brings.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus

“One with God is always a majority. But many have been burned at the stake while the boats were being counted. Thomas Reed”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“This senate was a place where good Representatives went when they died. Thomas Reed”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Eugene Debs entered jail a moderate Unionist and emerged a Socialist.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“The horizons of man are incomparably narrower than that of the land on which he toils. Editor of the Nebraska journal”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Teain had no difficulty generating the indignation of a satirist. He lack the patience of a reformer.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“A young mark twain on the make: "I can't turn in inkstand into Aladdin's lamp.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“William "Boss" Tweed was in such thorough control in New York that he made money off of the report the committee printed after investigating him.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“It's philanthropy, but it's good politics, too. Mighty good politics. The poor are some of the most grateful people in the world. George Washington Plunkett.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Chinese immigrant: "Americans make a mere practice of loving justice.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Reporter Jacob Riis made it his mission to expose the horrors of poverty in New York. New to working with a camera, his flash actually set the walls of One apartment inhabited by five blind people on fire.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“He (the immigrant father) would walk by proxy in the Elysian fields of liberal learning.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Cities force growth and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial. Ralph Waldo Emerson”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“America's mission is to join the most ancient civilizations with the most modern. John Augustus Roeblin”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“In the immediate aftermath of the great Chicago fire, a business proprietor erected a shack in front of his burned-out business. On a sign, he placed his name and the tagline that everything was gone but wife, children, and energy.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“A live-in domestic worker: "You are never sure that your soul is your own except when you are out of the house.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Theodore Roosevelt came to Dekota to experience the dying of one age with the slaying of a rare buffalo and the dawning of the West's industrial age.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“The first 10 days of a cattle drive were the most critical, as a stampede was most likely when the cattle were closest to their habitual home.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Western farmers were individualists cheifly in their dreams.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“The strike spread with the speed of telepathy.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“Andrew Carnegie was an inventor only in the sense that he adopted and adapted the discoveries of others.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“I believe the road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master IN THAT LINE. I have no faith in the policy of scattering one's resources. Andrew Carnegie”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

“John D Rockefeller read his Bible religiously, but kept his ledger in a different drawer.”
― H.W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900