Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man Quotes
"Children don’t make such distinctions, and his kids believed that their father loved them or that they could somehow earn his love."
"Abuse can be quiet and insidious just as often as, or even more often than, it is loud and violent."
"It’s difficult to understand what goes on in any family—perhaps hardest of all for the people in it."
"The personality traits that resulted—displays of narcissism, bullying, grandiosity—finally made my grandfather take notice but not in a way that ameliorated any of the horror that had come before."
"Financial worth was the same as self-worth, monetary value was human value."
"The only self-made man in the family, Freddy was being slowly, inexorably dismantled."
"Getting close to other children or authority figures may have felt like a dangerous betrayal of his father."
"Fred’s fundamental beliefs about how the world worked—in life, there can be only one winner and everybody else is a loser."
"He knew exactly how to play it: when Freddy flinched, Donald shrugged."
"The gleaming airports stood in stark contrast to the dark, unwelcoming office and dirty construction sites he’d left behind in New York."
"Sentiment, nostalgia, and community were concepts my grandfather didn’t understand, but when those windows were broken, even he must have conceded to himself that he’d gone too far."
"Unable to accept responsibility, much as Donald would later be, Fred blamed Freddy for the failure of Steeplechase."
"The purpose was to celebrate the park’s demolition—in other words, he would destroy what the community was trying to save before landmark status could be secured."
"He would never again pursue an original construction project."
"He had all the confidence of a bully who knows he’s always going to get what he wants and never has to fight for it."
"Fred made Freddy miserable, but Freddy’s need for his father’s approval seemed to intensify after Marblehead and even more after the demise of Steeplechase."
"That wasn’t how it worked in the family; Fred’s permission was sought whether it was needed or not."
"My grandfather suggested that she speak to the Highlander super again; there was nothing he could do."
"Their fear of my grandfather was so deeply ingrained that they no longer even recognized it for what it was."
"The reasoning for that was twofold: First, it was an easy way to put Freddy in his place while signaling to the other employees that they were expected to defer to Donald."
"My dad’s dream of flying had been taken away from him, and he had now lost his birthright."
"The situation with David Desmond eventually became untenable."
"My grandfather created Midland Associates in the 1960s to benefit his children, each of whom was given 15 percent ownership in eight buildings."
"Fred had no imagination and no ability to see a way beyond the circumstances he was essentially responsible for having created."
"Fred was willing to stake millions of dollars on his son because he believed he could leverage the skills Donald did have—as a savant of self-promotion, shameless liar, marketer, and builder of brands—to achieve the one thing that had always eluded him: a level of fame that matched his ego and satisfied his ambition in a way money alone never could."
"I thought I should go in, but there was nothing for me there. I went back downstairs."
"Stuart, don’t worry about Donald. He’s going to be just fine."
"My brother, who had always been so much better at negotiating the family than I was, had dared tell the truth."
"As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized that I’d made a critical mistake."
"My grandfather followed the letter of the law and then did what he wanted."
"Your grandfather didn’t want you or Fritz, or especially your mother, to get anything."
"Your grandfather didn’t give a shit about you. And not just you, he didn’t give a shit about any of his grandchildren."
"My father and his entire line had now been effectively erased."
"It’s just another way for him to see what he can get away with. And so far, he’s gotten away with everything."
"His cruelty serves, in part, as a means to distract both us and himself from the true extent of his failures."
"Donald today is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving."
"The more money my grandfather threw at Donald, the more confidence Donald had, which led him to pursue bigger and riskier projects."
"Donald’s need for affirmation is so great that he doesn’t seem to notice that the largest group of his supporters are people he wouldn’t condescend to be seen with outside of a rally."
"The combination of those two things—what he witnessed and what he experienced—both isolated him and terrified him."
"The lies may become true in his mind as soon as he utters them, but they’re still lies."
"The through line from Donald’s early, destructive behavior that Fred actively encouraged to the media’s unwillingness to challenge him."
"You have to remember that the man speaking is still, in essential ways, the same little boy who is desperately worried that he, like his older brother, is inadequate."
"Whatever objections Maryanne, Elizabeth, and Robert might have had, they kept to themselves."