Cornelius Vanderbilt — "I have always served the public interest by serving my own."
I have always served the public interest by serving my own.
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More from Cornelius Vanderbilt
"Never tell me to my face that you are a friend of mine, for I will not believe you. I have no friends."
"I don't want to go to heaven; I want to go to New York."
"I have no regrets."
"I'm not afraid of the law. I'm not afraid of the public. I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just afraid of being poor."
"Got to look out for yourself. Nobody else ain't going to do it."
About Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
American shipping and railroad magnate whose New York Central railroad and aggressive consolidation built the largest fortune in 19th-century America. Closely associated with John D. Rockefeller (later Gilded Age titan who learned the consolidation playbook). For an intellectual contrast, see Jay Gould, railroad speculator (1836-1892) — Vanderbilt built and ran railroads; Gould watered stock and manipulated markets. Their Erie Railroad rate-war and Gould's Black Friday (1869) gold-corner schemes were the public foil to Vanderbilt's quieter operational consolidation. The cleanest 'industrialist vs speculator' Gilded Age pairing.