Jay Gould Quotes
104 Jay Gould Quotes
1 2 3
[On being complimented on his abilities as a pedestrian (walking fast)] If the upper half of me were as good as the lower half I should be all right.
Jay Gould
[In 1883 on his controlling purchase of the Missouri Pacific Railway] Railroads had got to be a sort of hobby with me. I didn’t care about the money I made, I took the road more as a plaything to see what I could do with it. I had passed the time when I cared about mere money-making. My object in taking the road (if you can appreciate that) was more to show that I could make a combination and make it a success.
Jay Gould
[In 1850 at the age of 14] Honesty is the best policy.
Jay Gould
[At the time of the great Wabash strike] I am afraid the employees on our road think they work too hard. Work never hurt anybody. I am glad to work, and I will bet a silver dollar to an apple that I work harder in a day than any twenty men on our road do in a week.
Jay Gould
[In 1849 at the age of 13] I must study you know.
Jay Gould
[On being paid a dollar less a shilling for his dinner for his first work surveying] That was the first money I made in business, and it opened up a new field to me, so that I went on from that time and completed the surveys and paid my expenses all that summer by making noon-marks at different places.
Jay Gould
[As a young man] As regards the future world… I am unable to fathom its mysteries, but as to the present, I am determined to use all my best energies to accomplish this life’s highest possibilities.
Jay Gould
[As a young man] I’m going to be rich. I’ve seen enough to realize what can be accomplished by means of riches, and I tell you I’m going to be rich.
Jay Gould
I have no immediate plan. I only see the goal. Plans must be formed along the way.
Jay Gould
I have long indulged that fortune will throw me in the way of a better education, but as the period seems to be getting farther and father distant unless I sacrifice a great deal, I am fearful I shall never realize it. I intended as soon as my finances would permit to take a course through college…
Jay Gould
[When ill with pneumonia during winter in December 1854] The thought of transacting any kind of business is equal to jumping into a mill pond in winter time.
Jay Gould
Time is flying fast…
Jay Gould
[To the elder sage Pratt at the start of their enterprise] I am much obliged to you for all your suggestions. I find them a good dictionary.
Jay Gould
Pride in community will inspire and encourage our men to pride and excellence in work.
Jay Gould
[To the elder Pratt in October on their tannery business when the engine purchased for the tannery failed shortly after delivery] Although you know far more than any man in the country about these matters, I am inclined to think that my original suggestion – building a water – wheel as a backup to the more modern plan – may have saved us time, expense and frustration.
Jay Gould
[In 1857 on the tannery business] I’ve come to realize that it is the merchants, who command the true power in this industry. The tanner appears to take the greatest share of capital, but merely processes that capital, his expenses being extensive, his risk real, and his labor heavy. The shippers deal with the next largest sums, but again have extensive expenses and much work to do. The brokers, meanwhile, take what seems the smallest share but is in fact the largest. Theirs is nearly pure profit made on the backs of the shippers and the tanner, never their hands dirtied.
Jay Gould
[In his early tannery business days] I want to gain a grasp of the bartering….
Jay Gould
[In 1857] There is an old saying in my scrapbook, ‘that it is our best friends that tell us our faults.’
Jay Gould
We carried on the business for a while, and then I bought Mr Pratt out.
Jay Gould
The wheels of the Gods turn slow, as do the wheels of the probate court.
Jay Gould
[Around 1860] I am trying to start myself in the smoky world of stocks and bonds. There are magicians’ skills to be learned on Wall Street, and I mean to learn them.
Jay Gould
No man can control Wall Street. Wall Street is like the ocean. No man can govern it. It is too vast. Wall Street is full of eddies and currents. The thing to do is to watch them, to exercise a little common sense, and on the wane of speculation, or whatever you please to call it, to come in on top.
Jay Gould
I am determined to use all my best energies to accomplish this life’s highest possibilities.
Jay Gould
Work hard and don’t be foolish.
Jay Gould
BONUS quotes about Jay Gould
[After his death Dr Norvin Green the president of Western Union Telegraph Company knew he had assets of at least $60 million in three different stocks] I do know this in regard to Mr Gould: He never carried a dollar’s worth of life insurance in his life.
Dr Norvin Green – President Western Union
Mr Gould was a man of wonderful brain power. He was a man of decided views and strong will, yet he never strongly expressed them.
Dr Norvin Green – President Western Union
[On Jay Gould] I never knew a man who loved his children with such intensity as he did.
Mr Morosini
Mr Gould was a very quiet unassuming man of kindly impulses. People who might meet him for the first time would be likely to misjudge him, and perhaps not give him credit for the ability he possessed. He had a great gift of self-control. During the whole time I have known him I have never seen him give way to his temper but twice, and then under very great provocation. He never had his equal for ability in Wall Street, and probably his equal will never been seen. His success was not a matter of luck, but of energy and good judgment. He had a wonderful memory for details and knew more about the inside of the various corporations he was associated with than the officers who had direct control.
Russell Sage
He was too wise to lose himself in long details.
Judge Usher
His great characteristic was patience.
Henry Clews
He would buy up two [rail] roads at a low figure, consolidate them into one, issue securities and assure the public that the property was a valuable one. Then he would sell out at a high figure and pocket his profits. This operation he repeated over and over again.
Henry Clews
[On Jay Gould not talking about what he is doing and never going forth trumpeting his affairs.] Mr Gould has many properties, but a brass band is not one of them.
One stock broker
At 15 [years of age] Jay was as sharp as most young men at 22.
A former friend and neighbor
Jay Gould died yesterday one of the five or six richest men in its history… He died the controlling owner of three great systems of organized capital – the 11,000 miles of railroad centering around the Missouri Pacific, the Western Union Telegraph Company and the New York elevated system. All were in existence before he acquired them. Each was wrecked before it was bought.
The Philadelphia Press
1 2 3
Return from Jay Gould Quotes to Quoteswise.com