Henry Ford

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Simplification reduces cost

  “As we cut out useless parts and simplify necessary ones we also cut down the cost of making.”

  Our noteFord explains the direct link between product simplification and manufacturing efficiency.

• Weight is not strength

  “I cannot imagine where the delusion that weight means strength came from.”

  Our noteFord challenges the common engineering misconception that heavier materials are necessarily stronger.

• Focus on production

  “It was not at all my idea to make cars in any such petty fashion. I was looking ahead to production, but before that could come I had to have something to produce.”

  Our noteHe explains his early vision for mass production rather than custom builds.

• Short sighted profit

  “The whole thought was to make to order and to get the largest price possible for each car. The main idea seemed to be to get the money.”

  Our noteFord criticizes the strategy of his first company, the Detroit Automobile Company.

• Organic Business Growth

  “a business ought to start small and build itself up and out of its earnings. If there are no earnings then that is a signal to the owner that he is wasting his time”

  Our noteFord explains his philosophy on how a business should be funded and validated.

• Danger of Fixed Methods

  “when a man begins to think that he has at last found his method he had better begin a most searching examination of himself to see whether some part of his brain has not gone to sleep.”

  Our noteFord explains why falling into habits and fixed routines can lead to business failure.

• The Business Nucleus

  “The nucleus of a business may be an idea. That is, an inventor or a thoughtful workman works out a new and better way to serve some established human need; the idea commends itself, and people want to avail themselves of it.”

  Our noteFord explains how a business starts with a better way to serve human needs.

• Hiring without prejudice

  “Since we do not take a man on his past history, we do not refuse him because of his past history.”

  Our noteFord explains his policy of ignoring a candidate's past, including whether they were in jail or at Harvard.

• Wages vs charity

  “It is always unfortunate to have wages tinged with charity.”

  Our noteFord emphasizes that pay should be earned through production, not given as a gift.

• Price and Demand

  “No one will deny that if prices are sufficiently low, buyers will always be found, no matter what are supposed to be the business conditions.”

  Our noteFord discusses how low prices guarantee sales regardless of the economic climate.

• Purpose of borrowing

  “Borrowing for expansion is one thing; borrowing to make up for mismanagement and waste is quite another. You do not want money for the latter--for the reason that money cannot do the job.”

  Our noteHe distinguishes between healthy debt for growth and dangerous debt for covering waste.

• Price reduction logic

  “Reducing prices is taken by the short-sighted to be the same as reducing the income of a business.”

  Our noteHe criticizes those who don't understand how lower prices drive higher total volume.

• Shared Success

  “No man can view such a surplus as his own, for he did not create it alone. It is the joint product of his whole organization.”

  Our noteFord discusses why business profits belong to the organization rather than just the owner.

• Focus on service

  “Thinking of service, we shall not bother about good feeling in industry or life; we shall not bother about masses and classes”

  Our noteHe suggests that focusing on serving others eliminates unnecessary social and industrial conflicts.

• Redefining failure

  “Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again. There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail.”

  Our noteFord explains his first principle regarding the fear of the future and past mistakes.

• Address the facts

  “Jewish spokesmen would use their energy to better advantage, and more to the honor of the Jewish people, if they would address themselves to _what is in the articles_, rather than to what is not in them.”

  Our noteFord argues that critics should respond to the specific claims made in his publication rather than deflecting.

• Testing product quality

  “A good test for a song is to try to read it aloud. Few normal people can.”

  Our noteFord suggests a simple test to reveal the underlying quality or indecency of a popular product.

• Sacrificing quality for speed

  “The output is rushed to increase the income of money, and quality is sacrificed all round.”

  Our noteFord criticizes the rapid production cycle of the entertainment industry.

• Leverage and control

  “Usually a man with a "past" proves the most obedient instrument, but even a good man can often be tangled up in campaign practices that compromise him.”

  Our noteFord discusses how political figures are controlled through their past mistakes or compromises.

• Integrity vs Position

  “He said he could no longer retain his position and his self-respect; he had to give up one or the other.”

  Our noteFord recounts Lewis Nixon's reason for resigning when he realized he was a figurehead.

• Two types of earners

  “There are two types engaged in the mere work of money-making which is better described as "money-getting," without reference to production; one type grubs away under whatever system obtains, regarding it as fixed as the solar system”

  Our noteFord describes the difference between those who accept systems and those who analyze them.

• Speed vs quality

  “The _distillers_ of pure whisky which required years to make, were driven out by the _manufacturers_ of drugged and chemicalized liquors which could be made in three or four hours.”

  Our noteFord describes how cheap, fast-made imitations displaced traditional, high-quality products in the market.

• Universal human experience

  “Human experience is neither Jew nor Gentile in that respect.”

  Our noteFord notes that breaking promises due to weakness or inability is a universal human trait.

• Focus amidst turmoil

  “To watch them at their study and devotions undisturbed by the turmoil about them is to marvel at the faith which has enabled some of them to live more than one hundred years”

  Our noteObserving how deep focus and faith allow individuals to remain undisturbed by external chaos.

• Objectivity in Investigation

  “We give the facts as we find them; that of itself is sufficient protection against prejudice or passion.”

  Our noteHe claims that sticking to facts is the best defense against accusations of bias.

• Aggressive market entry

  “The old German business houses were too conservative to "run after customers" even in the hustling United States, but the Jewish firms were not, and they came straight to America and hustled.”

  Our noteFord contrasts conservative business approaches with the proactive hustle of Jewish firms in America.

• Natural trade speed

  “The Jew at a trade is naturally quicker than most other men.”

  Our noteFord discusses why Jewish merchants often outperformed their competitors in business transactions.

• Maintaining business momentum

  “The one state of affairs he could not endure was business at a standstill, and to start it moving he would do anything.”

  Our noteFord describes the drive to keep commerce moving rather than letting it stagnate.

• Proactive Problem Solving

  “It is a public duty to seize this problem at its beginning and train it up, so to speak; that is, so prepare for it that it may be handled here in a manner which will form a model”

  Our noteFord argues for addressing social and political issues early before they become unmanageable.

• Wealth as a tool

  “The Jew is primarily a money-maker for the reason that up to this time money is the only means he knows by which to gain position.”

  Our noteFord explains his view on why certain groups prioritize the accumulation of wealth for social standing.