My top 10 highlights from the book:
1. Where other investors sought the safety of numbers, the soothing ring of consensus, Hetty felt most comfortable on her own, trusting her own judgment and instincts.
2. When Ned was asked the most important lesson he had learned from his mother, he replied, without hesitation, "Self-reliance."
3. The rules she chose to live by were her own rather than society's.
4. "I never set out for anything that I don't conquer."
5. Hetty's philosophy on real estate was simple: Hold on to property.
6. "I know of very few people who are busier than myself or who are better trained to combine business with pleasure."
7. Her millions in cash and her willingness to lend made her a sort of one-woman Federal Reserve, whose decisions on interest rates were followed the way investors today await word from Fed chairman.
8. She rarely if ever took the opportunity to kick a borrower when he was down. That was bad business, she always said.
9. When angered, she could cuss like dockworker.
10. "My grandfather's eyesight was failing and my father's, too. And as soon as I learned to read it became my daily duty to read aloud to them the financial news of the world. In this way I came to know what stocks and bonds were, how the markets fluctuated, and the meaning of bulls and bears. When quite a child I was required to read the reports of the stock markets and of various business transactions to my father who would carefully explain to me those things I did not understand. I was also obliged to keep a strict account of personal and household expenses. All these things were most useful in forming the mind for business responsibilities when it became necessary to assume them."