Henry Ford

Work mixed with management becomes not only easier but more profitable. The time is past when anyone can boast about ‘hard work’ without having a corresponding result to show for it.

I have been at it ten years. I collect them so that they will not be lost to America. We have no Egyptian mummies here, nor any relics of the Battle of Waterloo nor any curios from Pompeii. It is strictly American.

Suppression of progress plays into the hands of the social enemy. Every advance in social justice establishes the nation.

That is what we are put in the world for, to get experience and to help others get it. It is the one thing no one can take away from us.

As members of the Ford Motor organization we are engaged in the production of an article of use for the people of all countries. Our principle is to make our work as profitable for the buyer as for the seller.

If we had more justice there would be less need of charity.

You can’t put feathers on a dog and call it a chicken!

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing, but what you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.

A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame.

Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.

Only when you are kinder to yourself, you can be kinder to the world.

Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.

I’m constantly reemerging in my life.

I think every parent, every generation has wanted their children to do better and have a higher standard of living. But I think there’s too much guilt.

A committee can make a decision that is dumber than any of its members.

When I was fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around. When I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.

When you get emotional, slow your thoughts down, and listen attentively (write it down). That way, you’ll be able to hear what you are thinking. You do this becoming very still and very quiet, and recording your thoughts. These high-speed thoughts and internal reactions always precede your feelings and emotions. Trust me, you did tell yourself something if you now feel anger, mad, anxious, frustrated, sad or depressed. From now on, whenever you get upset, listen ever so carefully, to what you are telling yourself.

Every man is the architect of his own fortune.

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.