The Quotable Henry Ford

Brilliant businessman, successful entrepreneur, pioneer of the low-price, mass-produced motor vehicle, and profoundly important to twentieth-century American life, Henry Ford was also a character of little-known but surprising contradictions.

Ford sported a hefty ego yet suffered from a pathological dislike of public speaking. He pioneered forty-hour work weeks and a minimum wage yet hated labour unions. He was a pacifist yet admired the efficiency of Nazi Germany. Such fascinating inconsistencies stand out sharply in The Quotable Henry Ford, an uncompromising presentation of the automaker’s own voice.

Michele Albion’s selection of quotes addresses widely varying topics: cars, employees, money, education, nature, family, politics, urbanisation, and even world peace. “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black,” said Ford, who knew that black paint dried faster, allowing for increased production of vehicles. He also told women to go easy on cheating husbands, explaining “they are simply trying to hold on to their youth”—a statement made the same year as the birth of a boy who was likely his illegitimate son.

Historians, teachers, car experts, Ford enthusiasts, and anyone interested in early twentieth-century America will discover that Henry Ford was very complicated, and very human. His words were often brilliant, often folksy, but often his own worst enemy.