"I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half."
"I judge property myself by its net earning power; that is the only rule I have been able to get.... This whole island [Manhattan] was once bought for a few strings of beads. But now you will find this property valued by its earning power, by its rent power, and that is the way to value a railroad or telegraph."
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Source: Jay Gould: A Character Sketch by William T. Stead, in The Review of Reviews. Testimony to the New York Senate Committee on Labor and Education, February 1893.
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"I never notice what is said about me. I am credited with things I have never done, and abused for them. It would be idle to attempt to contradict newspaper talk and street rumors."
"It was the custom when men received nominations to come to me for contributions, and I made them and considered them good paying investments for the company. In a Republican district I was a strong Republican; in a Democratic district I was Democratic, and in doubtful districts I was doubtful. In politics I was an Erie Railroad man all the time."
"Having the ability to get and gain respect through your work is great but you have to be careful not to get carried away."
"I do not believe that since man was in the habit of living on this planet anyone has ever lived possessed of the impudence of Jay Gould."
"My idea is, that if capital and labor are left alone they will mutually regulate each other. People who think they can regulate all mankind and get wrong ideas which they believe to be panaceas for every ill cause much trouble to both employers and employees by their interference."