Henry Ford
An American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company and developed the assembly line technique of mass production.
Most quoted
"I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be 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."
— from Statement to his engineers, often quoted as a personal philosophy, 1909
"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward."
— from My Life and Work, 1922
"I do not believe in the theory that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. I believe that the rich are getting richer because they are working harder and the poor are getting poorer because they are not working hard enough."
— from Attributed
All quotes by Henry Ford (182)
There is no use in trying to do a thing unless you are sure you can do it. If you are not sure, you have already licked yourself.
If I have to choose between money and men, I would choose men.
The only true test of a civilization is what it does for its children.
The average man, if he is introduced to a new idea, will not accept it unless it is presented in a way that he can understand.
We want to make the world better, and we want to do it by making things that are useful and beautiful.
The best way to make enemies is to tell people the truth.
The greatest discovery is that a man can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
I do not believe in the theory that all men are equal. I believe that all men have an equal right to develop their own inequalities.
The biggest thing in the world is to make a living, and the next biggest is to make a life.
If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.
Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.
The higher we go, the better we shall hear, the farther we shall see, the more clearly shall we understand.
Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
Money is like an arm or leg – use it or lose it.
There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.
Contemporaries of Henry Ford
Other Engineerings born within 50 years of Henry Ford (1863–1947).