Moses won his mother’s favor largely by never disagreeing with her

Evidence

No one was sure of the explanation. Relatives speculated that it was because Bella’s slashing, incisive mind had found in Robert a mind with like qualities. Perhaps this was part of the explanation, but it ignored the fact that her other son possessed the same qualities. Perhaps another part of the explanation was that when the family discussions grew especially lively, Robert knew where to stop. On issues about which Bella felt especially strongly, Paul would often disagree with his mother. Robert never did. And Bella Moses, after all, was not a woman who liked to be disagreed with. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 157

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A quiet but devastating observation about how family dynamics can reward intellectual submission, suggesting the origin of Moses’s refusal to brook disagreement — the pattern he later imposed on the entire city.
• XREF: connects to: Cultivating his mother’s approval shaped Moses’s public-service ideal — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 158; Moses’s defining personality traits came from his mother’s line — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 160; Moses raged privately and violently but never challenged Moskowitz to her face — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 426

Broader Connections

• Moses raged privately and violently but never challenged Moskowitz to her face #corroborates (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 426
• Cultivating his mother’s approval shaped Moses’s public-service ideal #expands (0.75) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 158
• Moses’s defining personality traits came from his mother’s line #qualifies (0.70) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 160