Cornelius Vanderbilt Quotes

Cornelius Vanderbilt was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into leadership positions in the inland water trade and invested in the rapidly growing railroad industry. Nicknamed "The Commodore", he is known for owning the New York Central Railroad. His biographer T. J. Stiles says, "He vastly improved and expanded the nation's transportation infrastructure, contributing to a transformation of the very geography of the United States. He embraced new technologies and new forms of business organization, and used them to compete....He helped to create the corporate economy that would define the United States into the 21st century."

As one of the richest Americans in history and wealthiest figures overall, Vanderbilt was the patriarch of the wealthy and influential Vanderbilt family. He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. According to historian H. Roger Grant: "Contemporaries, too, often hated or feared Vanderbilt or at least considered him an unmannered brute. While Vanderbilt could be a rascal, combative and cunning, he was much more a builder than a wrecker [...] being honorable, shrewd, and hard-working." Wikipedia

✵ 27. May 1794 – 4. January 1877

Cornelius Vanderbilt: 2 quotes 1 like

Cornelius Vanderbilt Quotes

“Gentlemen,
You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for law is too slow. I'll ruin you.
Yours truly,
Cornelius Vanderbilt”

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Said to be the entirety of a letter to Charles Morgan and C. K. Garrison, quoted in an obituary, "Commodore Vanderbilt's Life" (5 January 1877) New York Times. Stiles, in The First Tycoon (2009) doubts this. He notes that there is no earlier source, that Vanderbilt was no stranger to the courts, and that he never otherwise closed letters with "yours truly."
Disputed

Law , Cheating

“Let them do what I have done.”

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Often attributed, but without a contemporary source, as a remark on being asked to contribute to charity for the poor. See for example Commodore (2009) by Edward J. Renehan