Cornelius Vanderbilt — "The public be damned!"
The public be damned!
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More from Cornelius Vanderbilt
"I do not care for your opinion. I have my own."
"The only way to succeed is to keep pushing forward."
"Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness."
"I am not beholden to any man."
"Don't depend on any man. Get your own land and make your own money."
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.