Quotes About Control

Things seldom happened accidentally to George Washington, but he managed them with such consummate skill that they often seemed to happen accidentally. By 1775 he had a fine sense of power—how to gain it, how to keep it, how to wield it.

He preferred to socialize on home turf, where guests had to conform to his rules and his timetable.

While extremely powerful, they were also inhibited in exercising that power.

From the outset, Rockefeller had to wrestle with the demons of pride and greed.

He was the embodiment of power and purpose.

when Archbold took control in the mid-1890s, he kept domestic prices high while depressing foreign prices to diminish overseas competition.

Pierpont was amenable to central banks so long as they were private and had boards composed of bankers.

Even though he terminated relations with this pair, he could not dispose of their sour investments so easily and thought the most prudent course was to buy total control of the companies and turn them around.

It was the same act of ventriloquism: the State Department talked, and Tom Lamont moved his lips.

He had long bewailed his inability to delegate authority—"It is my nature and I cannot help it

he would reorganize bankrupt roads and transfer control to himself.

It is hard to exaggerate the power that Pierpont accrued.

You see, this scheme is bound to work. It means an absolute control by us of the oil business.

By the spring of 1891, Rockefeller began to develop the queasy sense that Harper regarded his money as a blank check to cover annual deficits.

By 1900, the nation's railroads were consolidated into six huge systems controlled by Wall Street bankers, principally J. P. Morgan

But the moves reflected a new wish to shape opinion

Nevertheless, the general public came away with the impression that John D. was pulling the strings.

Regulation did not inevitably harm business but could also aid it.

So long as he could maintain ample spreads between crude and refined prices, Rockefeller blessed the producers' efforts to impose higher prices and control output.

He tried almost from the beginning of our partnership to dominate and override me," he said of Clark.

He was now a master puppeteer, adroitly manipulating his marionettes, with the strings artfully concealed.

As Standard Oil's leading figure, he was the only person who didn't have any direct operational responsibility.

Rockefeller reviewed every bill that arrived at home and often patrolled the hallways, turning off gaslights.

In creating this self-protective structure, Rockefeller could run Standard Oil while simultaneously sidestepping responsibility, erasing incriminating evidence, and avoiding contact with his victims.