Henry Ford

Hard knocks have a place and value, but hard thinking goes farther in less time.

The Model T blazed the way for the motor industry and started the movement for good roads everywhere. It is still the pioneer car in many parts of the world which are just beginning to be motorized.

A manufacturer is not through with his customer when a sale is completed. He has then only started with his customer. In the case of an automobile the sale of the machine is only something in the nature of an introduction. If the machine does not give service, then it is better for the manufacturer if he never had the introduction, for he will have the worst of all advertisements-a dissatisfied customer.

Four women have helped me: mother, sister, mother-in-law and wife.

Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.

There should be no unemployment. There is large percentage of labor now which cannot make a living because wages are not high enough. That is industry’s 2nd job. 1st job is to make good product. 2nd pay a good wage.

Always be smarter than the people who hire you.

The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business.

My friends are people who like building cool stuff. We always have this joke about people who want to just start companies without making something valuable. There’s a lot of that in Silicon Valley.

If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.

We decided not to show One Hyde Park til we were 100% ready. A lot of people open the doors too early.

It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially – like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.

[‘Why don’t you manage me’ – Laura Nyro] Eventually I thought do I really believe that she could be one of the biggest stars in the world? Should I give up my career at this point in my life, where I’m doing so well, and put all my marbles in Laura’s [Nyro] basket? And I woke up one morning and I thought if you really believe it – go for it.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules, you learn by doing and by falling over.

You can’t do this! We have an arrangement! We have a contract!

The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years.

I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life’s problems.

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

I never went to business school. I was just bumbling through a lot of my life. I was like the guy behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz.

My mother taught me to love my work. I learned everything about business from her.

Your business, and your brand, must first let people know what you care about, and that you care about them.