“ As often is the case with addictions, the fanciful notion of a gradual discontinuance only provided a comforting pretext for more sustained indulgence. Ron Chernow
“ An essential difference between the American and French revolutions was that the American version allowed a search for many truths, while French zealots tried to impose a single sacred truth that allo… Ron Chernow
“ Has anyone given you the law of these offices? No? It is this: nobody does anything if he can get anybody else to do it.… As soon as you can, get some one whom you can rely on, train him in the work,… Ron Chernow
“ I have developed a very strong partiality for the dead: they don't talk back, they don't sue, and they don't have angry relatives. Ron Chernow
“ Reproaching his slave carpenters, he said, There is not to be found so idle a set of rascals.28 Of a slave named Betty who worked as a spinner in the mansion, he complained that a more lazy, deceitful… Ron Chernow
“ My family is American, Ulysses later declared proudly, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral. Ron Chernow
“ Having been battered by the world in his earlier years, he had come to rely on family and friends and never forgot that lesson. When he offered an appointment to a former St. Louis friend, the man fel… Ron Chernow
“ He had prevailed in almost every major program he had sponsored—whether the bank, assumption, funding the public debt, the tax system, the Customs Service, or the Coast Guard—despite years of complain… Ron Chernow
“ Jay was attacked with peculiar venom. Near his New York home, the walls of a building were defaced with the gigantic words, 'Damn John Jay. Damn everyone that won’t damn John Jay. Damn everyone that w… Ron Chernow
“ Washington once advised his adopted grandson that where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent. For there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more eas… Ron Chernow
“ Tens of thousands of onlookers gaped in amazement as the shattered British troops marched out of Yorktown and, to the tune of an old English ballad, The World Turned Upside Down, Ron Chernow
“ On February 2, 1780, hard on the heels of Cornelia and Polly, Elizabeth Schuyler arrived in Morristown, accompanied by a military escort, to stay with relatives. Ron Chernow
“ [Kitty] was the type of woman Hamilton found irresistible: pretty, coquettish, somewhat spoiled, and always ready for flirtatious banter. Ron Chernow
“ The feckless President Buchanan, who opposed secession, thought the federal government powerless to stop it, and in his last annual message blamed the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery qu… Ron Chernow
“ From later descriptions, however, we know that [Alexander Hamilton] stood about five foot seven and had a fair complexion, auburn hair, rosy cheeks, and a wide, well-carved mouth. His nose, with its f… Ron Chernow
“ Owned hundreds of human beings but profited from the Constitution’s least democratic features: the legality of slavery and the ability of southern states to count three-fifths of their captive populat… Ron Chernow
