One of the most depressing features of the ethical side of the matter is that instead of such methods arousing contempt they are more or less openly admired. And this is logical. Canonise 'business success,' and men who made a success like that of the Standard Oil Trust become national heroes!
Ida TarbellRipe old age, cheerful, useful, and understanding, is one of the finest influences in the world.
Ida TarbellIt is not alone that justice is wounded by denying women a part in the making of the civilized world - a more immediate wrong is the way the movement for a fuller, freer life for all human beings is hampered.
Ida TarbellThe quest of the truth had been born in me - the most tragic and incomplete, as well as the most essential, of man's quests.
Ida TarbellThe first and most imperative necessity in war is money, for money means everything else -- men, guns, ammunition.
Ida TarbellIt's always a revolution, you know, when things occur of which you have never happened to hear!
Ida Tarbell[On dishonest business methods:] ... frequently the defender of the practice falls back on the Christian doctrine of charity, and points out that we are erring mortals and must allow for each other's weaknesses! - an excuse which, if carried to its legitimate conclusion, would leave our business men weeping on one another's shoulders over human frailty, while they picked one another's pockets.
Ida Tarbell