Robber Baron Quotes

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. ~ Clare Short

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. ~ Carl Sagan

The difference between a kleptocrat and a wise statesman, between a robber baron and a public benefactor, is merely one of degree: a matter of just how large a percentage of the tribute extracted from producers is retained by the elite, and how much the commoners like the public uses to which the redistributed tribute is put. ~ Jared Diamond

I can live with the robber barons, but how do you live with these pathological radicals? ~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Cornelius Vanderbilt and his fellow tycoon John D. Rockefeller were often called 'robber barons'. Newspapers said they were evil, and ran cartoons showing Vanderbilt as a leech sucking the blood of the poor. Rockefeller was depicted as a snake. What the newspapers printed stuck--we still think of Vanderbilt and Rockefeller as 'robber barons'. But it was a lie. They were neither robbers nor barons. They weren't robbers, because they didn't steal from anyone, and they weren't barons--they were born poor.
Vanderbilt got rich by pleasing people. He invented ways to make travel and shipping things cheaper. He used bigger ships, faster ships, served food onboard. People liked that. And the extra volume of business he attracted allowed him to lower costs. He cut the New York--Hartford fare from $8 to $1. That gave consumers more than any 'consumer group' ever has.
It's telling that the 'robber baron' name-calling didn't come from consumers. It was competing businessmen who complained, and persuaded the media to join in.
Rockefeller got rich selling oil. First competitors and then the government called him a monopolist, but he wasn't--he had competitors. No one was forced to buy his oil. Rockefeller enticed people to buy it by selling it for less. That's what his competitors hated. He found cheaper ways to get oil from the ground to the gas pump. This made life better for millions. Working-class people, who used to go to bed when it got dark, could suddenly afford fuel ~ John Stossel

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. ~ Alex Jones

American capitalism has been both overpraised and overindicted. It is neither the Plumed Knight nor the monstrous Robber Baron. ~ Max Lerner

The scale of revenue growth is unprecedented. If you look back over history, whether you're looking at the railway robber baron era or the 1920s or the '50s or the '70s, it used to take a long time for a company to get to the point where they had tens of millions of dollars of revenue. It was almost never an overnight phenomenon. ~ Stewart Butterfield

A chord, stronger or weaker, is snapped asunder in every parting, and time's busy fingers are not practiced in re-splicing broken ties. Meet again you may; will it be in the same way? With the same sympathies? With the same sentiments? Will the souls, hurrying on in diverse paths, unite once more, as if the interval had been a dream? Rarely, rarely! ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Piter: Ah-ah, Baron! Is it not regrettable you were unable to devise this delicious scheme by yourself?
Baron: Someday I will have you strangled, Piter.
Piter: Of a certainty, Baron. Enfin! But a kind act is never lost, eh?
Baron: Have you been chewing verite or semuta, Piter? ~ Frank Herbert

Ye are a scoundrel, a black-hearted robber and a rogue,' Stubble said cheerily to the grumbling captain. It was his usual way of haggling, and he'd beaten down the riverman to a decent price for conveying himself and Anvar to Lankarn. ~ Ian Livingstone

One great reason why men practice generosity so little in the world, is, their finding so little there: generosity is catching; and if so many men escape it, it is in a great degree from the same reason that country-men escape the smallpox, because they meet no one to give it to them. ~ Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke

Well, the traveling teachers do come through every few months," said the Baron.
"Yes, sir, I know, sir, and they're useless, sir. They teach facts, not understanding. It's like teaching people about forests by showing them a saw. I want a proper school, sir, to teach reading and writing, and most of all thinking, sir, so people can find what they're good at, because someone doing what they really like is always an asset to any country, and too often people never find out until it's too late. ~ Terry Pratchett

I did not fall into love - I rose into love. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

We may observe in humorous authors that the faults they chiefly ridicule have often a likeness in themselves. Cervantes had much of the knight-errant in him; Sir George Etherege was unconsciously the Fopling Flutter of his own satire; Goldsmith was the same hero to chambermaids, and coward to ladies that he has immortalized in his charming comedy; and the antiquarian frivolities of Jonathan Oldbuck had their resemblance in Jonathan Oldbuck's creator. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

I have profound respect for Sacha Baron Cohen, but Borat is not a particularly comfortable movie for me to sit through. ~ Ed Helms

The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: Your money, or your life ... The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful. The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act. He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit. He does not pretend to be anything but a robber ... Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you as you wish him to do. He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful 'sovereign,' on account of the 'protection' he affords you. ~ Lysander Spooner

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

At court one becomes a sort of human ant eater, and learns to catch one's prey by one's tongue. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

… Fourier's great mathematical poem ...

{Referring to Joseph Fourier's mathematical theory of the conduction of heat, one of the precursors to thermodynamics.} ~ William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin

But never yet the dog our country fed, Betrayed the kindness or forgot the bread. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

The virtue lies in the struggle, not the prize. ~ Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton

He who writes prose builds his temple to Fame in rubble; he who writes verses builds it in granite. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

It is not error which opposes the progress of truth; it is indolence, obstinacy, the spirit of routine, every thing which favors inaction. ~ Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron De Laune

If the ministers of the Church have often permitted nations to revolt for Heaven's cause, they never allowed them to revolt against real evils or known violencess. It is from Heaven that the chains have come to fetter the minds of mortals. ~ Baron D'Holbach

The real truthfulness of all works of imagination, sculpture, painting, and written fiction, is so purely in the imagination, that the artist never seeks to represent positive truth, but the idealized image of a truth ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Life is short - while we speak it flies; enjoy, then, the present, and forget the future; such is the moral of ancient poetry, a graceful and a wise moral - indulged beneath a southern sky, and all deserving, the phrase applied to it - the philosophy of the garden. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

It's not the lack of ability or opportunity that holds you back; it is only a lack of confidence in yourself. ~ Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton

So I sent Halt to straighten matters out. Thought it might be a good idea to give him something to keep him busy."
So what's Digby got to complain about?" Rodney asked. It was obvious from his tone that he felt no sympathy for the recalcitrant commander of Barga Hold.
The Baron gestured for Lady Pauline to explain.
Apparently," she said,"Halt threw him into the moat. ~ John Flanagan

Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words. ~ Baron De Montesquieu

Limitation is not a matter of justice. It is a rule of public policy which has its origin in history and its justification in convenience. ~ Alfred Denning, Baron Denning

Nothing can constitute good-breeding that has not good-nature for its foundation. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Bright and illustrious illusions! ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

She's the kind of woman who wants what she doesn't have and gets what she wants and then despises what she gets. ~ Margaret Atwood

The wrinkles in my brow,
The furrows in my face,
Say, limping age will lodge him now
Where youth must give him place. ~ Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux Of Harrowden

If you would be holy, instruct your children, because all the good acts they perform will be imputed to you. ~ Baron De Montesquieu

Trees that, like the poplar, lift upward all their boughs, give no shade and no shelter, whatever their height. Trees the most lovingly shelter and shade us, when, like the willow, the higher soar their summits, the lower drop their boughs. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life. ~ Baron De Montesquieu

Time is our most precious asset, we should invest it wisely. ~ Michael Levy, Baron Levy

God, we are told, is willing to render himself inconsistent and ridiculous, to confound the curiosity of those whom, we are at the same time informed, he desires to enlighten by his special grace. What must we think of a revelation which, far from teaching us any thing, is calculated to darken and puzzle the clearest ideas? ~ Baron D'Holbach

Shrimp are the insects of the ocean. They're bottom feeders. So they're delicious, but they're the bugs of the sea. ~ Baron Vaughn

Most men have more courage than even they themselves think they have ... ~ Greville Janner, Baron Janner Of Braunstone

As the excitement of the game increases, prudence is sure to diminish. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

But there's something to be said for truly caring. For making a commitment and sticking to it. For having the strength of character to decide what you think is important and then going out and making it happen no matter how hard or crazy or unpopular it might seem. ~ Michael Baron

Genius is but fine observation strengthened by fixity of purpose. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Some ISPs are blocking all BitTorrent traffic, because BitTorrent can be used to share files in a piratical way. Hollywood lobbying groups are trying to pass laws which would force ISPs to block or degrade BitTorrent traffic, too. Personally, I think this is like closing down freeways because a bank robber could use them to get away. ~ Wil Wheaton

It was language I loved, not meaning. I liked poetry better when I wasn't sure what it meant. Eliot has said that the meaning of the poem is provided to keep the mind busy while the poem gets on with its work
like the bone thrown to the dog by the robber so he can get on with his work ... Is beauty a reminder of something we once knew, with poetry one of its vehicles? Does it give us a brief vision of that 'rarely glimpsed bright face behind/ the apparency of things'? Here, I suppose, we ought to try the impossible task of defining poetry. No one definition will do. But I must admit to a liking for the words of Thomas Fuller, who said: 'Poetry is a dangerous honey. I advise thee only to taste it with the Tip of thy finger and not to live upon it. If thou do'st, it will disorder thy Head and give thee dangerous Vertigos. ~ P.K. Page

I loathe that I did love,
In youth that I thought sweet ~ Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux Of Harrowden

Until the 'wrong belief' leaves, we will continue to be robbed. ~ Dada Bhagwan

In the psychotherapeutic worldview to which all good liberals subscribe, there is no evil, only victimhood. The robber and the robbed, the murderer and the murdered, are alike the victims of circumstance, united by the events that overtook them. Future generations (I hope) will find it curious how, in the century of Stalin and Hitler, we have been so eager to deny man's capacity for evil. ~ Theodore Dalrymple

Grief alone can teach us what is man. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Beside one deed of guilt, how blest is guiltless woe! ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

We must judge of a man's motives from his overt acts. ~ Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

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. ~ David Mamet

How little praise warms out of a man the good that is in him, as the sneer of contempt which he feels is unjust chill the ardor to excel. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Is that all?" he blurted out.
Crowley and Halt exchanged slightly puzzled glances. Then Crowley pursed his lips thoughtfully.
"Um…it seems to be…Listed your trainging, mentioned a few achievements, made sure you know which end of an arrow is the sharp part…decided your new name…I think that's…" Then it seemed that understanding dawned on him and his eyes opened wide.
"Of course! You have to have you Silver…whatsis, don 't you?" He took hold of the chain that held his own Silver Oakleaf around his throat and shook it lightly. It was a badge of a Graduate Ranger. Then he began to search through his pockets, frowning.
"Had it here! Had it here! Where the devil is it…wait. I heard something fall on the boards as I came in! Must have dropped it. Just check outside the front door, will you, Will?"
Too stunned to talk, Will rose and went to the door. As he set his hand on the latch, he looked back at the two Rangers, still seated at the table. Crowley made a small shooing motion with the back of his hand, urging him to go outside. Will was still looking back at them when he opened the door and stepped through on the verandah.
"Congratulations!"
The massive cry went up from at least forty throats. He swung around in shock to find all his friends gathered in the clearing outside around the table laid for a feast, their faces beaming with smiles. Baron Arald, Sir Rodney, Lady Pauline and Master Chubb were all there. So were Jenny and George, his forme ~ John Flanagan