Jay Gould

"Those who speak loudest about morality typically have the most to hide."

"Fortunes are built on the fears of others."

"A handshake means nothing if there is no power behind it."

"The railroad does not merely transport goods; it transports power itself."

"I am a creation of my own ambition, not of circumstance."

"The best revenge is not vengeance, but superior success."

"A man who cannot be bought is merely a man whose price has not been discovered."

"The future is written by those bold enough to seize the pen."

"Capital without courage is merely an ornament."

"I have built my life on the understanding that sentiment and profit are enemies."

"The accumulation of wealth teaches a man more than any university."

"Those who inherit fortunes rarely understand how to keep them."

"A monopoly is simply efficiency carried to its logical conclusion."

"The appearance of success is often more valuable than success itself."

"I have never apologized for my ambitions; they are written in my achievements."

"The railroad is not merely a business; it is the skeleton of progress."

"A man's greatest weakness is his belief in the honesty of his competitors."

"The accumulation of enemies is the price of greatness."

"Sentiment is the luxury of those not fighting for survival."

"Those who question my methods have never understood the mathematics of power."

"A fortune made by kindness is a contradiction in terms."

"I have learned that the public will forgive anything except ineffectiveness."

"The man who waits for permission will wait forever."

"Competition destroys the weak and strengthens the strong."

"I measure success not in years but in the mark I leave on the world."

"The accumulation of power requires the cultivation of indifference."

"A man without influence is merely a voice crying in the wilderness."

"Those who cannot adapt to changing conditions deserve their fate."

"The best business is the one where the customer has no alternative."

"I have built my fortune on understanding what men truly desire beneath their words."