Without the incredible efforts of Henry Ford, America would have been a much different place. A true visionary and a quintessential pioneer, these Henry Ford quotes will allow you to see the bigger picture.
Known for founding and leading the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford played an important role in building America’s economy during the nation’s early years. He is credited with developing and manufacturing the first car that the average American could afford and revolutionizing transportation and American industry with his introduction of the assembly line technique of production.

More than one hundred year’s later, Henry Ford’s methods and work ethic can help us all become more successful. Ford was not an inventor, but he was a smart innovator. He reminds us that we do not necessarily need to reinvent the wheel to be successful. Sometimes what you need is the vision to take something that already exists and improve it.
From a revolutionary business leader, below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and thoughtful Henry Ford quotes and sayings, collected from a variety of sources over the years.
Henry Ford Quotes From One Of America’s Greatest Pioneers
1. “Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.” – Henry Ford
2. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” – Henry Ford
3. “There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail.” – Henry Ford
4. “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.” – Henry Ford
5. “When everything seem to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it ….” – Henry Ford
6. “Givers have to set limits because takers rarely do.” – Henry Ford
7. “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.” – Henry Ford
8. “An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.” – Henry Ford
9. “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford
10. “That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true. But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness.” – Henry Ford
Henry Ford quotes that will inspire you to put passion in what you do
11. “The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.” – Henry Ford
12. “Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement”. – Henry Ford
13. “There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” – Henry Ford
14. “To see a thing clearly in the mind makes it begin to take form.” – Henry Ford
15. “Experience is the thing of supreme value.” – Henry Ford
16. “A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford
17. “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs” – Henry Ford
18. “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” – Henry Ford
19. “To do more for the world than the world does for you – that is success.” – Henry Ford
20. “To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.” – Henry Ford
Henry Ford quotes on success and greatness
21. “You can’t learn in school what the world is going to do next year.” – Henry Ford
22. “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.” – Henry Ford
23. “Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” – Henry Ford
24. “Do you want to know the cause of war? It is capitalism, greed, the dirty hunger for dollars. Take away the capitalist, and you will sweep war from the earth.” – Henry Ford
25. “Genius is seldom recognized for what it is: a great capacity for hard work.” – Henry Ford
26. “As long as we look to legislation to cure poverty or to abolish special privilege we are going to see poverty and special privilege grow” – Henry Ford
27. “Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.” – Henry Ford
28. “There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.” – Henry Ford
29. “I see no advantage in these new clocks. They run no faster than the ones made 100 years ago.” – Henry Ford
30. “You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.” – Henry Ford
Henry Ford quotes that will inspire you to think outside the box
31. “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.” – Henry Ford
32. “It is not usual to speak of an employee as a partner, and yet what else is he?” – Henry Ford
33. “Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again.” – Henry Ford
34. “We try to pay a man what he is worth and we are not inclined to keep a man who is not worth more than the minimum wage.” – Henry Ford
35. “Money is like an arm or leg-use it or lose it.” – Henry Ford
36. “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” – Henry Ford
37. “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford
38. “The one aim of these financiers is world control by the creation of inextinguishable debt.” – Henry Ford
39. “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” – Henry Ford
40. “I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.” – Henry Ford
Other memorable Henry Ford quotes to inspire you
41. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford
42. “Sometimes you just don’t like somebody” – Henry Ford
43. “The way to learn to do things is to do things. The way to learn a trade is to work at it. Success teaches how to succeed. Begin with the determination to succeed, and the work is half done already.” – Henry Ford
44. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford
45. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.” – Henry Ford
46. “There are three things that grow more precious with age; old wood to burn, old books to read, and old friends to enjoy.” – Henry Ford
47. “As we serve our jobs we serve the world.” – Henry Ford
48. “Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him better take a closer look at the American Indian.” – Henry Ford
49. “Vision without execution is just hallucination.” – Henry Ford
50. “Money doesn’t make us anyway it just unmasks us.” – Henry Ford
Which of these Henry Ford quotes resonated with you best?
Henry Ford left an indelible mark on the business world in both a practical and theoretical sense. Many years after his passing on, he is still considered one of America’s leading businessmen.
Aspects of Ford’s personal life (such as his political views and anti-Semitic leanings) made him a somewhat controversial figure, but his innovations revolutionized American society and shaped the world we live in today. Hopefully, his words have inspired you to put passion in whatever you pursue.
Did you enjoy these Henry Ford quotes? Which of the quotes is your favorite? Let us know in the comment section below. We would love to hear all about it.
