Henry Ford

When bankers get into business they usually destroy it.

There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.

We have enough in our country to let us deep into the springs of human life if we only cherished what we have.

The most closely organized groups and movements in the world are those which have been the least friendly to the people’s progress and liberty.

The only true test of values, either of men or of things, is that of their ability to make the world a better place in which to live.

Much depends on people knowing what opportunity means; it doesn’t mean a silver platter, it oftener means a spade. Self-help means something sterner than ‘help yourself’–reach over and take it.

Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.

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

Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.

There’s no better friend to any merchant than a fair competitor.

I never aspired to be a public figure. I have always been interested primarily in real business and the development of business strategies.

People in the beauty community don’t like copycats, so I think it’s important to stay true to who you are and people will stay your customer.

As betting at the race ring adds neither strength nor speed to the horse, so the exchange of shares in the stock market adds no capital to business, no increase in the production and no purchasing power to the market.

Selling is our No. 1 job. Never get away from selling a lot of merchandise personally. The more you sell the more you learn.

I really don’t retain information – by the time I arrive wherever I’m going, I already forget what it is that I wanted to say.

Good publicity is preferable to bad, but from a bottom-line perspective, bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all. Controversy, in short, sells.

Edison, to a greater extent than has ever been recognized, is the father of American industrial methods.

If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.

I was the most productive when I was in a flex situation. Do not check for me for needless meetings.

Investors are visionaries in some respects – they look beyond the present.

Our friendship was based on my payouts. That wasn’t a friendship when – as, for example, it’s me, my friends, we are friends for many years, and it doesn’t matter for me what the position is, where they work; we simply are friends. And with Mr. Berezovsky, our friendship was based on my payoffs.