Henry Ford - The Wisdom That Comes from Pursing a Great Vision

It seems to me that if you're the kind of person who can help create an industry - as Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Sam Walton, Malcolm S. Forbes and others have done - maybe you've learned a few things about what it takes to succeed in life. Maybe you have something to say.

Indeed, I have hundreds of quotes from well-known business leaders. And Henry Ford (1863-1947) is at the top of the list. He's the guy who invented the assembly line so he could mass produce automobiles. His vision was to make cars as cheaply as possible so that everyone could afford one. This forced him to innovate, and the end result was to revolutionize both transportation and American industry. His vision prevails today in the Ford Motor Company, one of the largest and most respected corporations in the world.

No, I don't own a Ford. I never have. But I have quite a few quotes by Henry Ford. Here are a dozen favorites...

On COOPERATION - “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

On EFFORT - "Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."

On EXCELLENCE - "Quality means doing it right when no one is looking."

On FAIRNESS - "It is all one to me if a man comes from Sing Sing Prison or Harvard. We hire a man, not his history."

On FORGIVENESS - “Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.”

On FRIENDSHIP - "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."

On INITIATIVE - "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."

On PASSION - "You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars."

On PERSEVERANCE - “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”

On SELF-CONFIDENCE - “There isn’t a person anywhere who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can.”

On SELF-DEVELOPMENT - “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

On SERVICE - "It's not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It's the customer who pays the wages."

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength . (Photo from Library of Congress archives, in the public domain)