Cornelius Vanderbilt Quotes
115 Cornelius Vanderbilt Quotes (Commodore Vanderbilt) (1794-1877)
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If a fellow’s got guts he can always win.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[When asked for his two secrets (maxims) to his business success.] 1) All you have to do is attend to your own business, then go ahead. 2) I never tell what I’m going to do till I’ve done it.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[In 1859 on insurance at the age of 65.] I guess I’ve built a hundred steamships and steamboats… I never paid a dollar of insurance… Good vessels and good masters – that’s the best kind of insurance. Why should I pay somebody else to carry my risks?
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 15.] I’m tired of working for somebody else.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 15.] I just know I could make me a heap of money…
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 15.] You’ve got to make folks believe you’ll always run. If they can depend on you, they’ll deal with you.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[Soon after healing from his railroad accident which happened in October 1833 said to be the first railroad accident.] Ain’t got time to be sick.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
I can’t afford to be sick no longer.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
I’m going to show ‘em Ma. You wait and see.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
If you don’t have competition, you don’t have competitors to skin.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Say nothing and jump quick.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
We made it… I knew all it needed was guts.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Gentlemen: You have undertaken to cheat me. I will not sue you because the law takes too long. I will ruin you.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Pay ready money for everything you buy, and never sell anything you don’t own.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[On a rare ‘holiday’ promised to him by his father as a reward for being diligent in hoeing potatoes. He and his friend Owen were to have the periauger (small sailing boat) to sail up to New York. But when he and his friend went down to the beach they found his father pitching hay into the periauger’s open hull. ‘Now look sharp, Cornelius. Here’s the periauger for you. I’ve done pitched in more than half the hay. You and Owen pitch the rest. Take her up the Bay, and unload at Whitehall same as usual. You can play on the way – both ways, going and coming! And here’s sixpence for you, Bub.’ - Father] A boy can get fun out of almost anything, and Owen and me got some fun out of that – but we were just as tired that night as if we’d been working.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 15 of working for his father.] I’ve worked enough for him… I’m tired of working for somebody else. Pa, he never gives me a chance. He doesn’t know he’s alive. He’s that slow…
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 15, being asked by his mother ‘What would you like to do, if you don’t go to sea? - Mother] Ma, if I had a boat of my own I could make more than Pa right now. There’s good money in the harbor, and I can find it. [‘Honest money? None of this smuggling from furrin ships?’ – Mother.] Sure, honest. I’d make regular trips daytimes, and nights, in fine weather. I’d run parties over that wanted to see the sights on the Battery. Pa, he ain’t run regular for years, and I just know I could make me a heap of money, as soon as folks knew I was dependable. That’s what counts, Ma. You’ve got to make folks believe you’ll always run. If they can depend on you, they’ll deal with you. [‘But you ain’t got the money for a boat, son.’ – Mother.] N-no. But, but if somebody was to lend it to me, I’d pay it back, Ma. And I could give you a sight more help then I do now. Honest, I could. [‘How much would a boat cost? – Mother] I know a dandy periauger over at Port Richmond you can buy for a hundred dollars. It’d hold twenty passengers. [‘A hundred dollars is a lot of money for a boy who ain’t sixteen. And I’ve got to speak to your Pa first, Cornelius.’ – Mother.] But you will? You will speak to him, Ma. Ma, if you help me get that periauger, I’ll make you a thousand dollars a year. Honest, I will! [‘Shucks, if you paid back the money that’d be a heap, son. But you run along. I’ll talk to you tomorrow after I see what your Pa thinks.’ – Mother. (He was given the money after he had to plow a whole rocky field in a four week period. He did this with help from hiring his friends promising future sailing rides.)]
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[Sixty years after buying his own boat at the age of 16.] I didn’t get nigh the satisfaction out of the two millions I made in the Harlem corner as I got out of stepping into my own periauger, hoisting my own sail and putting my hand onto my own tiller. Yes, sirree, that was the biggest day I ever had.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[On a merchant who remonstrated over some incivility.] What you kicking about? I done what you hired me to do, didn’t I? Well, what the hell’s it to you how I talk?
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[‘Why, Cornelius, we ain’t seen you for supper in a coon’s age!’ – Mother] Been too busy. How’s Pa?
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Tricks ain’t good business.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[On repaying his mother the 100 dollars and giving her 1,000 dollars more.] There ain’t nothing to it, except work and giving folks what they want.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
I’m a good provider, I am.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 18.] If I earn enough to support a wife I’m old enough to get married.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 18.] I guess if I know how to run my business, I know who I can marry.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[At the age of 18 to his father and mother and wanting to marry his first cousin Sophia.] Lots of cousins marry, and no harm done. And Sophia and me are going to.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[On his father checking out why Cornelius was the only one in the harbor who did not tender for provisioning the military harbor forts. ‘There’s money in that contract, Bub…’ - Father] There ain’t a shilling in it. Seen the bids? [‘No, but - ’ – Father] Thought you hadn’t. Fellow that gets that contract is to be exempt from military duty. The damn cowardly pups are so feared of the Redcoats they’re making prices that won’t pay for their time, let along give them a profit. Every bid’s lower than the last one. And I don’t aim to carry cargo at a loss. [… ‘Well, try it.’ – Father.] Nope, too late. And my bid would be so high above them skunks the Commissionary would drop dead of fright. [‘Try it. Won’t do no harm. Just send in an honest bid.’ – Father.] Maybe I will. [Then Cornelius put in a bid and came into the Army headquarters to learn the result.] What about them harbor fort bids? [‘Sorry, but the bid has been let.’ – Officer.] Who got it? [‘Man named Van Derbilt. Why? Know him, do you?’ … Oh, so you’re Van Derbilt.’ – Officer] Say, Mister, how in hell did I get it with all them damned blatherskites way below me? [‘Because the blatherskites were ‘way below’ you. We want a contractor who is bidding to do our work, not one who is trying to escape militia duty. If I have my way, every one of those rascals will go in the next draft.’ – Officer. Afterward Cornelius went into the street and said.] By God, the old man was right. Don’t that beat… [This doubled his work, him working at night as well and he never saw his family except on Sunday’s.]
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[What he often liked to say to a merchant with his long list of work.] Sorry, Mister. Ought to have spoke to me yesterday. I got a cargo for Stonington next week.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[On the 31st of December 1817 when he was 23 years old and owned three vessels and had $9,000 in cash all in seven years since buying his periauger.] Boilers. That’s where the money’s going. Steam’s bound to beat sail, if you give folks comfort and stowage.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[To his wife Sophia.] Going to sell the ferry… Going to sell the schooners, too. [‘Why – why – What you fixing to do Cornelius?’ – Sophia.] Figgering on steamboating. [‘But you ain’t never done no steamboating!’ – Sophia.] Sure. Time I learned.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[‘Steamboating. That takes a pile of money, Cornelius.’ – Mother.] It takes a pile of knowing. [‘I suppose you know your own mind, but it sounds more like your Pa than anything you ever did, hopping out of a good business into something else.’ – Mother.] I ain’t failed yet, have I?… I done a heap of thinking, this last year. Maybe if I went on like I have I’d do better than I hope to; but I don’t guess so. Boilers have it over sails, Ma. Ain’t no use talking. You fire up a steamer, and she goes, head-wind or no wind. The main thing is to work out a way to make steamboats profitable. They ain’t built right, and that’s what I am to do – build ‘em right.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[In early 1818.] I bet you before I get through I’ll have steamboats bigger than a seventy-four, going ten miles an hour.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[‘If you’re going in for steamboating, stick to it, till you’re the biggest steamboat man there be.’ – Mother.] You just watch me.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[‘Cornelius! You saved three thousand a year these last three years.’ – Sophia.] Give me a chance, and I’ll save ten thousand a year. Stop that crying. I ain’t going to starve you.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Got to spend some money, if you want to make anything. Can’t run a ferry that won’t run.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
I don’t care so much about making money as I do about making my point and coming out ahead.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
I don’t aim to stop with one [steam] boat.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
I can’t help it, Sophy. Christ, gal, I got work to do. What? Another kid? How you do it? No, send for Ma. I ain’t a midwife. Well, all right. I’ll be down next week then.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[In 1829.] Going to run my own boats… I done made my plans. I don’t figure on taking a salary from anybody. Going to be my own boss.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
[‘I’ll sell you a half-interest in the line. Name your own price. Pay for it when you please – pay out of profits.’ – Gibbons.] No. The business ain’t big enough. [‘Not big enough? I’m taking $40,000 a year out of it.’ – Gibbons.] Yes, and it ain’t likely to grow much more. I’m going into the River and Sound business. That’s where the big money will be. Plenty of competition… And if you don’t have competition, you don’t have competitors to skin.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
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