Cornelius Vanderbilt — "Never be a minion, always be an owner."
Never be a minion, always be an owner.
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More from Cornelius Vanderbilt
"The public be damned!"
"The public be damned! I am working for my stockholders."
"Never tell your resolutions beforehand, or it's half a defeat."
"I have always believed in myself."
"Never tell what you are going to do till you have done 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.