…business success–money-getting…comes from a rather low instinct. Certainly so far as my observation goes, it is rarely met with in combination with the finer or more interesting traits of character. I have known, and known tolerably well, a good many “successful” men–“big” financially–men famous during the last half-century; and a less interesting crowd I do not care to encounter. Not one that I have ever known would I care to meet again, either in this world or the next; nor is one of them associated in my mind with the idea of humor, thought or refinement. A set of mere money-getters and traders, they were essentially unattractive and uninteresting.
–Charles Francis Adams
Categories: Capitalism, quotes, Railroaded, Richard White, Wealth