Henry Ford

We live in an era of tremendous facts. And the facts are facts. They are also unpleasant facts, which does not decrease their factual percentage one bit. Our job is to understand them, to recognize their presence, to learn if we can what they signify and not to fall into the error of minimizing facts because they have a bitter flavor.

You say I started out with practically nothing, but that isn’t correct. We all start with all there is, it’s how we use it that makes things possible.

It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.

The depression was just a state of mind. It is over for everyone who has changed his state of mind.

The most dangerous notion a young man can acquire is that there is no more room for originality. There is no large room for anything else.

The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.

Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far.

Mr. Edison was comfortably well off-he was not a money maker.

My mother was an entrepreneur… She found being on relief humiliating. She built this business from scratch… In 1951 my mother opened this store…

Any business arrangement that is not profitable to the other person will in the end prove unprofitable for you. The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated.

Hire character. Train skill.

The problem with the bronco is to get on and stay on. This is the problem with the Golden Rule-to understand and apply.

When people are ‘stung’ in false investment schemes there are three causes; greed of something for nothing; sheer inability to know their mind; or infantile trustfulness.

It was impossible to operate in the aluminium business without krysha – very real physical protection.

[On his first job in the mailroom of William Morris a casting agency] It was the first time in the my life that I thought ‘I can do that.’

I don’t make deals for the money. I’ve got enough, much more than I’ll ever need. I do it to do it.

The way out of the depression is to start spending and doing things.

Although Mr. Edison was called ‘The Wizard’ of the electrical world and everyone thought that electricity was the coming thing, he actually encouraged me to go with my second car.

[On Laura Nyro] I said to Laura ‘You know Laura, I think we should sell your music publishing company. I think right now is the right time you have three songs in the top ten this may never happen again and I think we can get a lot of money for it.’ And I made a deal with Clive Davis to sell Tuna Fish Music for $4 million. And that was a hell of a lot of money in 1969. It made her famous, it made her rich. It got people to listen to her music with her singing.

If you change anything about the way you approach selling, the thing that would make the biggest difference would be your attitude, your attitude toward your customer, your service, the benefits of your products, your employer, and yourself.

Investors have very short memories.