Henry Ford

If governments would only understand that if people are left alone they’ll work out their own salvation.

Employers only handle the money – it is the customer who pays the wages.

We are always seeking for those things which are in the clouds, not for those that lie at our feet.

An educated person, I think, is one who not only knows a lot, but knows how to do a lot of things.

This is the only reason Greenfield Village exists-to give us a sense of unity with our people through the generations, and to convey the inspiration of American genius to our young men. As a nation we have not depended so much on rare or occasional genius as on the general resourcefulness of our people. That is our true genius, and I am hoping that Greenfield Village will serve that.

Mass production is craftsmanship with the drudgery taken out of it.

No human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient [for] the duty of superintending the industry of private people … towards the employment most suitable to the interest of the society.

Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.

The opportunity for an entrepreneur to start a company from scratch today is abysmal.

Nations are great as they are prosperous as they are industrious as they are just.

Leverage: don’t make deals without it!

A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.

When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.

I think shareholders are the great evil of this modern world.

Well, I think that there’s a very thin dividing line between success and failure. And I think if you start a business without financial backing, you’re likely to go the wrong side of that dividing line.

Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change.

I avoid clients for whom advertising is only a marginal factor in their marketing mix. They have an awkward tendency to raid their advertising appropriations whenever they need cash for other purposes.

[on Steve jobs] Our relationship was based almost always on him calling up and asking, ‘Is this a good deal?’ I’m not in his business, and I wasn’t trying to be. I was just a guy who admired him a lot and was flattered he wanted my advice.

You have an idea of the way you think it is, and it’s not that way at all, it’s something else.

We know everything about our clients – if they like their dressing gowns heated, what colour flowers they like, if their chef works left-handed – we know everything and we incorporate it into our work for them.

We’’ve designed swimming pools that turn into ballrooms, and fitted security devices that fill a garage with gas if someone is stealing your car.