Henry Ford

See what a 25-cent raise will do to us, said Mr. Ford. So they figured the daily and monthly cost of a 25-cent increase. Put on another quarter and see what that will cost, he said. And so they went on, 25 cents a step. Finally the wage of $2.34 stood at $4.75–more than 100 percent increase. One of the associates–a good financial head–remarked rather sarcastically that if they were going to be fools, why not be first-class fools and make it $5. All right, said Mr. Ford, let’s make it $5.

Nothing can be made except by makers, nothing can be managed except by managers. Money cannot make anything and money cannot manage anything.

I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.

If a young man wants to fit himself for the Politics of tomorrow, let him fit himself into essential industry for the purpose of learning how best to conduct it for the whole public good.

Whatever it is, people who have more spare time than people ever had before get the sense of whirlwind pressure,and repeat the common criticism that ‘we are going too fast.’ Yet the people live longer than ever before, live with less effort, live on a higher plane. Is it possible that this common saying about our rapid pace is just another thoughtless mob suggestion?

When you once get an idea in which you believe with all your heart, work it out.

When women come up to me like, ‘I am a freaking senator,’ or, ‘I’m a doctor,’ it’s like, ‘Damn, y’all like me? I look up to y’all!’

Do not do unto others as you would they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

As I get older, I just prefer to knit.

There are some sick people in this world.

We don’t see the things the way they are. We see things the way WE are.

When I am old, weather-worn, and grey, I want to fill my lungs with your perfume and hear your laughter echo through our home as we dance alone in our living room, drunk off wine, still madly in love.

One needs to be successful in the conventional way to learn just how far away from success it may be.

Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Never trust anyone who wants what you’ve got. Friend or no, envy is an overwhelming emotion.

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up.

If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.

You know, what we do know is that there is a high frequency of violence in the home of those who bully.

Pies, para que los quiero si tengo alas para volar. (“Feet, what do I need them for if I have wings to fly.”)

Improvements have been coming so quickly that the past is being lost to the rising generation, and it can be preserved only by putting it in a form where it may be seen and felt. That is the reason behind this collection.

Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.