Henry Ford

Individualism is what makes cooperation worth living.

I will build a motor car for the great multitude – constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. So low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one-and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.

A man’s college and university degrees mean nothing to me until I see what he is able to do with them.

No American ought to be compelled to strike for his rights. He ought to receive them naturally, easily, as a matter of course.

People are never so likely to be wrong as when they are organized. And they never have so little freedom. Perhaps that is why the people at large keep their freedom. People can be manipulated only when they are organized.

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

Can advertising foist an inferior product on the consumer? Bitter experience has taught me that it cannot. On those rare occasions when I have advertised products which consumer tests have found inferior to other products in the same field, the results have been disastrous.

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

I have no Napoleonic dream. I’m just hard-working and pragmatic.

Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.

Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.

The best of merchandise will go back to the shelf unless handled by a conscientious, tactful salesman.

Too many would-be executives are slaves of routine.

If you can run one business well, you can run any business well.

Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.

Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa – and it’s about getting a balance.

I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It’s done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer.

Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.

The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the relationship between a patient and his doctor. Make sure that you can life happily with your prospective client before you accept his account.

We do not hire a man’s history, we hire the man.

If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.