Chauncey Mitchell Depew (1834–1928) was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt’s railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States senator from New York. He is best remembered as a raconteur, a wit, an after-dinner speaker, and a director of many corporations.
Entering politics as a Republican, Depew served as a member of the New York Assembly 1861–62 and as secretary of state of New York 1864–65. In 1866, he declined an appointment as the first U.S. minister to Japan to become an attorney and lobbyist for Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York and Harlem Railroad.
Eventually, Depew rose to be president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad 1885–98 and board chairman of the entire Vanderbilt railway system from 1898.
Unsuccessful in his bid to obtain the Republican presidential nomination in 1888, Depew was a U.S. senator from New York 1899–1911.
Depew was also a eminent orator and after-dinner speaker, and published many of those speeches—notably, Orations and After Dinner Speeches (1890,) Life and Later Speeches (1894,) My Memories of Eighty Years and Marching On a/k/a My Autobiography (1922,) and Miscellaneous Speeches on the Threshold of Ninety-two (1925.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Chauncey Depew
I get my exercise acting as a pallbearer to my friends who exercise.
—Chauncey Depew
Topics: Exercise
A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is a man who hopes they are.
—Chauncey Depew
Topics: Optimism, Women, Funny quotes
The enjoyment of life would be instantly gone if you removed the possibility of doing something.
—Chauncey Depew
Unhappy is the man who is not so much dissatisfied with what he has as with what the other fellow possesses.
—Chauncey Depew
Topics: Happiness
As for food, half of my friends have dug their graves with their teeth.
—Chauncey Depew
Topics: Diet, Weight
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