Once in every generation, a businessman comes along who takes everything that you thought you know about the world and turns it on its head. Steve Jobs did it with his constant reinventions of Apple and its devices, and Elon Musk is out there right now trying to bring spaceflight, futuristic hyperloops and electric cars to the masses.
Arguably the first businessman to really define his generation is Henry Ford, the iconic businessman who was a mishmash of contradictions. Ford has been accused of anti-Semitism thanks to his belief in a world conspiracy of “Jewish financiers”, but he was also forward-thinking when it came to hiring minorities and paying a fair wage.
Despite that, Ford’s influence on the world of business and motoring is unmatched, and at one point over half of American families owned a Ford motor car.
You can’t argue with that! We sure need to get inside the mindset of Henry Ford. What better way to be inspired than to read his own words, get the success lessons and the meaning behind his thoughts.
He had a dream and he followed it ruthlessly until he made it happen.
You can’t argue with that! We sure need to get inside the mindset of Henry Ford. What better way to be inspired than to read his own words, get the success lessons and the meaning behind his thoughts.
Without further ado, here are the 20 best Henry Ford quotes and how they can inspire modern businessmen to succeed:
20 Henry Ford Quotes That Will Inspire You To Succeed
1. "There is only one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Ethics has never been more important in business. People love to buy quality, especially if it’s reasonably priced, but that should never come at the expense of underpaid workers in third-world sweatshops.
2. "Don’t find fault, find a remedy." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Nobody wants to work with someone who’s constantly pointing out problems. Still, you need to fix faults if you want to progress in life. That’s why instead of pointing out problems, you need to spend your time looking for solutions instead.
3. "Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: A lot has been said about the power of positive thinking, but the basic truth is that we can fall victims to a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you can’t do something then you’re doomed from the outset.
4. "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. Life is full of opportunities, so if you fail then you can simply pick yourself up and try again – only this time you can avoid repeating your mistakes.
5. "Employers only handle the money – it is the customer who pays the wages." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: If your customers are unhappy then they’re going to stop buying your products and services. And if they’re not buying your products and services then there’s no money coming in and redundancies and even bankruptcy are inevitable.
6. "Vision without execution is just hallucination." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Anyone can have an idea, but what really counts is how you execute. Google wasn’t the first company to build a search engine, for example. They’re just the company with the most successful execution and the strongest vision.
7. "A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: The best businesses have a mission, and for example, in Google’s case it’s to make it as easy as possible for people to access the information that they need. Facebook’s mission is to connect the world and to bring people closer together. Making money is almost an afterthought.
8. "Obstacles are those frightful things that you see when you take your eyes off your goal." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: As much as it’s important to know what might get in your way, it’s also important to focus on the end goal. Otherwise, you could find yourself like an athlete who was in first place but who tripped after turning to look behind him as he approached the finish line.
9. "It is not usual to speak of an employee as a partner, and yet what else is he?" - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Everyone is on the same team and they should all be aligned to a common goal, no matter what position they work in. Ford recognised that everyone on his team played a vital part in the overall company and that he as CEO was no more important than the men on the assembly line.
10. "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Life is a constant learning experience. What we think of mistakes are usually just errors – they become mistakes when we fail to fix them or to learn from the experience.
Success lesson & quote meaning: It's easier to fit in and accept things as they are, instead of thinking by yourself a have you own opinion. Success requires you to do what others don't do, so you can get where others can't get.
12. "Quality means doing it right when no one is looking." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Don’t cut corners or skip steps just because you can get away with it. Everything that you ever do is a part of who you are, and the same is true when it comes to your approach to business. Give it your best shot 100% of the time.
Success lesson & quote meaning: This is the most important step, the one that starts all, find out what your destiny in life is. Of course, after that you must do everything you can to achieve it, by taking action.
14. "To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Simply put, everyone has a part to play in the future. While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin get most of the credit for the moon landing, the thousands of technicians and researchers who made it possible were just as important.
15. "If you had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: As a creator you need to think outside the box, most people will usually just see the box. Chariots with horses were the mean of transportation back then for common people, so people couldn't picture an affordable motor car. Ford thought differently and history was made.
16. "Experience is the thing of supreme value." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: The lesson here is twofold. The first is that qualifications will only get you so far and so it’s important to get your hands dirty too. The second is that if you want to stand out from the competition, you’ll need to provide an experience instead of a mere transaction.
Success lesson & quote meaning: This is math. We all have 24 hours, how we make use of those hours can make all the difference between being successful or not. Make sure you use your time wisely.
18. "Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success." - Henry Ford
Success lesson & quote meaning: Preparation is key. They say that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and Henry Ford knew it. The Model T was such a success because he’d put in the groundwork before the vehicle became so popular, so it was easy for the company to scale up production.
19. "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
Success lesson & quote meaning: Sometimes you need to take a little time out for yourself. There’s a difference between being lazy and simply taking some time to recharge. You’ve heard the saying “work hard, play hard” – now it’s time to work hard and relax hard.
Success lesson & quote meaning: The road to success is not easy, there will be obstacles in your way but you must continue to do what you do, regardless.
We sincerely hope these Henry Ford quotes have inspired you to succeed.
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Sharon is a marketing specialist and blogger from Manchester, UK. When she has a minute, she loves to share a few of her thoughts about marketing, writing and blogging with you. Currently, she is working as a marketer at the writing service Bestdissertation. You could follow Sharon on Facebook.
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