How to Succeed According to the Wisdom of the People’s Tycoon

Meet the man who “Created the American Century!”

Known as the pioneer of mass production, he developed the first moving-chassis assembly line. By reducing the time to produce a car drastically, he revolutionized the American automobile industry. It was said that he, more than anyone else, “created the American century.”

As an American industrialist and business magnate, Henry Ford left an indelible mark on American industry and history. It was said he was the first tycoon to be a hero to ordinary Americans.

Leaving a legacy of bringing affordable automobiles to the masses, he died at the age of 83 years old in 1947.

Practically all the principles and wisdom Henry Ford shared during his life are timeless. In the small sampling of Ford’s quotes that follow, I have attempted to group them by subject to help you quickly find those that will most interest you.

Success

Teamwork and Helping Others

“Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

“To do more for the world than the world does for you — that is success.”

“An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous”

Secrets

“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”

“The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.”

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”

The Customer

“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.”

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

Accomplishment

“There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”

“It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”

Money

“The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life.”

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”

“Employers only handle the money — it is the customer who pays the wages.”

“If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.”

Leadership

Can Do

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

“You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.”

“I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”

“One of the greatest discoveries a person makes, one of their great surprises, is to find they can do what they were afraid they couldn’t do.”

“I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say what is and what is definitely not possible.”

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

Change

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Thinking

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.”

Solutions

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”

“Don’t find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.”

“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”

“You say I started out with practically nothing, but that isn’t correct. We all start with all there is, it’s how we use it that makes things possible.”

Resistance

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

Vision

“Vision without execution is just hallucination.”

Enthusiasm

“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars.”

Competition

“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”

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

Inspiration and Wisdom

Learning

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”

“As we advance in life we learn the limits of our abilities.”

You can’t learn in school what the world is going to do next year.

“Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.”

Optimism

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

“I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn’t need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about.”

Failure and Obstacles

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.”

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.”

Quality

“There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.”

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

“A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.”

Ford’s quotes are loaded with profundity and I suggest going through them with someone close to you to explore their depth. This will help each of you increase in wisdom and encourage one another as you navigate through life.

You can find many books in print about Ford from a wide variety of perspectives, including several biographies. As one of the most successful men in American history, he is well worth studying.

As Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” It’s up to you and what you think you can do! Now, go! Create the life your heart desires. You can do it!

Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION.

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