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
"I have never been afraid to go against the grain."
"I can buy any man in the Legislature."
"I have always taken care of my own business."
"The public be damned! I am working for my stockholders."
"The only thing that matters is winning."
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.