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Robber Baron Quotes

Browse 21 quotes about Robber Baron.

Robber Baron Quotes

“It's a real enigma why people are so averse to real free market capitalism even now. Here we are, in the century that has seen Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Castro, Pol Pot-and we're still being warned against the 'robber barons' of the 19th century. I don't know that Jay Gould or John D. Rockefeller ever killed anyone. The State has killed countless people, and yet we're always supposed to remain on guard against these 'greedy villains' of yesteryear.”

“Reagan's story of freedom superficially alludes to the Founding Fathers, but its substance comes from the Gilded Age, devised by apologists for the robber barons. It is posed abstractly as the freedom of the individual from government control a Jeffersonian ideal at the roots of our Bill of Rights, to be sure. But what it meant in politics a century later, and still means today, is the freedom to accumulate wealth without social or democratic responsibilities and license to buy the political system right out from everyone else.”

“Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

Source: God in the Dock

“American capitalism has been both overpraised and overindicted. It is neither the Plumed Knight nor the monstrous Robber Baron.”

Has Beens Capitalism Knights Monstrous Robbers American Capitalism Robber Baron

Author:Max Lerner

“People like the robber barons assumed that the doctrine of the survival of the fittest authenticated them as deserving power. You know, "I'm the richest. Therefore, I'm the best. God's in his heaven, etc." And that reaction of the robber barons was so irritating to people that it made it unfashionable to think of an economy as an ecosystem. But the truth is that it is a lot like an ecosystem. And you get many of the same results.”

“I can live with the robber barons, but how do you live with these pathological radicals?”

I Can Radical Robbers Robber Baron

Author:Daniel Patrick Moynihan

“The latter-day robber barons are discovering that better conditions and rewards for workers pay off in a world where consumers increasingly demand ethical standards.”

World Pay Conditions Demand Standards Rewards Workers Consumers Latter Ethical Discovering Robbers Latter Days Ethical Standards Robber Baron

Author:Clare Short

“My dad was a labour lawyer, and the ideas that I grew up with - bad management, bad capitalism, robber barons - when I applied this to my own life, I saw that we are all on both sides of the coin.”

Ideas Sides My Own Saws Grew Dad Grew Up Capitalism Management My Dad Lawyer Labour Both Sides Coins My Own Life Robbers Robber Baron

Author:David Mamet

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”

Book:Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way

Source: Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way

“Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant, a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.”

“I’ve always liked to read about extremely wealthy people, especially when they are crazy (like Howard Hughes or Caligula.) While writing this book I did a lot of fun research on robber barons like Rockefeller and Morgan. But the most helpful stuff came from studying royal families and mad emperors. The best book I read was probably A King’s Own Story, which is the memoir of Edward VIII. Also, anything about Ivan the Terrible or Ted Turner.”

People Writing Book Stories Fun Stuff Study Crazy Kings Terrible Research Mad Memoir Helpful Wealthy Royal Emperor Robbers Royal Family Turner Robber Baron

Author:Simon Rich

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

Source: A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

“Either greed belongs in a war zone, or it doesn't. You can't unleash it in the name of sparking an economic boom and then be shocked when Halliburton overcharges for everything from towels to gas, when Parsons' sub, sub, sub-contractor builds a police academy where the pipes drip raw sewage on the heads of army cadets and where Blackwater investigates itself and finds it acted honorably. That's just corporations doing what they do and Iraq is a privatized war zone so that's what you get. Build a frontier, you get cowboys and robber barons.”

War Names Economic Army Police Greed Iraq Corporations Gas Zone Shocked Cowboy Frontiers Academy Pipe Robbers Towels Contractor War Zones Sewage Cadets Sparking Robber Baron Police Academy

Author:Naomi Klein

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”

People Matter Motivational Action Success Motivation Attitude Talent Entrepreneur Perseverance Self Motivation Mediocrity American Dream Impressive Billionaire Great Talent Robber Baron

Author:Andrew Carnegie

“When John Kennedy attempted to take the government back from the back from the robber barons, he was brutally murdered. The message to future US president and leaders across the world was clear: do as you're told, or die. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the last true president of the United States. And until the globalists are removed from power, we will never have another real one.”

World Real States Government Lasts Dies President Change United Leader Power United States Clear Messages Robbers Real Ones Us President John Kennedy Robber Baron

Author:Alex Jones

“Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

“Modern Darwinism makes it abundantly clear that many less ruthless traits, some not always admired by robber barons and Fuhrers - altruism, general intelligence, compassion - may be the key to survival.”

Life May Compassion Clear Modern Keys Survival Traits Altruism Ruthless Robbers Darwinism Robber Baron

Author:Carl Sagan

“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”

I Can Political Politics Half Class Working Class Other Half One Half Robber Baron

Author:Jay Gould

“It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.”

Source: God in the Dock

“According to the Tax Foundation, the average American worker works 127 days of the year just to pay his taxes. That means that government owns 36 percent of the average American's output-which is more than feudal serfs owed the robber barons. That 36 percent is more than the average American spends on food, clothing and housing. In other words, if it were not for taxes, the average American's living standard would at least double.”

Ifs Years Mean Government Pay Taxes Standards Percent Foundation Workers Average Clothings Housing Robbers Output Days Of The Year American Workers Serfs Robber Baron

Author:Paul Craig Roberts