Quotes by Walt Disney

Get a good idea, and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it's done, and done right.

The difference in winning and losing is most often, not quitting.

Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.

Dreams offer too little collateral.

You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it requires people to make the dream a reality.

Any fool can make a lot of noise. But it takes a strong bull to go his own way and forget the things those bullies say.

What seems real to the mind can be as important as any material fact. We live by the spirit and the imagination as well as by our senses. Cartoon animation can give fantasy the same reality as those things we can touch and see and hear.

I take great pride in the artistic development of cartoons. Our characters are made to go through emotions.

I am in no sense of the word a great artist, not even a great animator; I have always had men working for me whose skills were greater than my own. I am an idea man.

Do a good job. You don't have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself. Just do your best work -- then try to trump it.

Disneyland is like a piece of clay: If there is something I don't like, I'm not stuck with it. I can reshape and revamp.

Disneyland is a show.

A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.

There is a natural hootchy-kootchy motion to a goldfish.

I have watched constantly that in our work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether my productions deal with fable or with stories of living action.

The inclination of my life...has been to do things and make things which will give pleasure to people in new and amazing ways.

I happen to be kind of an inquisitive guy and when I see things I don't like, I start thinking, why do they have to be like this and how can I improve them?

I don't pose as an authority on anything at all, I follow the opinions of the ordinary people I meet, and I take pride in the close-knit teamwork with my organization.

Today, we are shapers of the world of tomorrow. That is plain truth. There is no way we can duck the responsibility, and there is no reason why we should.

To the youngsters of today, I say Believe in the future, the world is getting better; there still is plenty of opportunity. Why, would you believe it, when I was a kid I thought it was already too late for me to make good at anything.

I resent the limitations of my own imagination.

Why be a governor or senator when you can be king of Disneyland?

Until a character becomes a personality it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.

Part of the Disney success is our ability to create a believable world of dreams that appeals to all age groups. The kind of entertainment we create is meant to appeal to every member of the family.

The era we are living in today is a dream of coming true.

I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible, because dreams offer too little collateral.

It's silly to build a wall around your interests.

In our animation we must show only the actions and reactions of a character, but we must picture also with the action... the feeling of those characters.

Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave.

You know, the only way I've found to make these pictures is with animators. You can't seem to do it with accountants and bookkeepers.

Now when we opened Disneyland, outer space was Buck Rogers.

A good concert, if you're kind of relaxed, it can do something to you. It's sort of an emotional break you get by listening to music.

Well I come from a land, from a far away place, where the caravan camels roam. They will cut of your ear if they don't like your face, it's babaric, but hey, it's home.

Childishness? I think it's the equivalent of never losing your sense of humor. I mean, yes there's a certain something that you retain. It's the equivalent of not getting so stuffy that you can't laugh at others.

Never get bored or cynical. Yesterday is a thing of the past.

Born of necessity, the little fellow literally freed us of immediate worry. He provided the means for expanding our organization to its present dimensions and for extending the medium of cartoon animation toward new entertainment levels. He spelled production liberation for us.

I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty.

Over at our place, we're sure of just one thing: everybody in the world was once a child. So in planning a new picture, we don't think of grown-ups, and we don't think of children. But just of that fine, clean, unspoiled spot down deep in every one of us, that maybe the world has made us forget.

For every laugh, there should be a tear.

She believed in dreams, all right, but she also believed in doing something about them. When Prince Charming didn't come along, she went over to the palace and got him.

The most exciting and, by far, the most important part of our Florida project, in fact, the heart of everything well be doing in Disney World, will be our experimental prototype city of tomorrow. We call it EPCOT.

Disneyland will always be building and growing and adding new things... new ways of having fun, of learning things, and sharing the many exciting adventures which may be experienced here in the company of family and friends.

The important thing is the family. If you can keep the family together -- and that's the backbone of our whole business, catering to families -- that's what we hope to do.

Fantasy and reality often overlap.

Frying pans! Who knew, right?

I just make what I like -- warm and human stories, ones about historic characters and events, and about animals. If there is a secret, I guess it's that I never make the pictures too childish, but always try to get in a little satire of adult foibles.

Do anything better than it was ever done before and youll get rich.

A good ending is vital to a picture, the single most important element, because it is what the audience takes with them out of the theater.

If anybody gets highbrow around the studio, out he goes.

We dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What do you say? Come on.

I think what I want Disneyland to be most of all is a happy place.

If I haven't thought about six impossible things before breakfast, I consider the day wasted.

We're not trying to entertain the critics ... I'll take my chances with the public.

The immediate need for education and practice in using our natural resources of soil, forest, water, wildlife and areas of inspirational beauty to the best advantage of all, for this generation and others to come, is again apparent to every observant citizen.

God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily. The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.

I think you have to know these fellows definitely before you can draw them. When you start to caricature a person,you can't do it without knowing the person. Take Laurel and Hardy for example; everybody can see Laurel doing certain things because they know Laurel.

Disneyland is often called a magic kingdom because it combines fantasy and history, adventure and learning, together with every variety of recreation and fun designed to appeal to everyone.

Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true.

The fun is in always building something. After it's built, you play with it awhile and then you're through. You see, we never do the same thing twice around here. We're always opening up new doors.

I have never been interested in personal gain or profit. This business and this studio have been my entire life.

The sky has never been the limit. We are our own limits. It's then about breaking our personal limits and outgrowing ourselves to live our best lives.

All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me.

In my view, wholesome pleasure, sport, and recreation are as vital to this nation as productive work and should have a large share in the national budget.

Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.

Whether you say you can't or you can, you're right.

To me, today, at age sixty-one, all prayer, by the humble or highly placed, has one thing in common: supplication for strength and inspiration to carry on the best human impulses which should bind us together for a better world.

Movies are a medium of expression like a symphony orchestra...or a painter's brush and canvas.

Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature.

I function better when things are going badly than when they're as smooth as whipped cream.

It is my wish to delight all members of the family, young and old, parent and child.

Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives.

In bad times and in good I've never lost my sense of zest for life.

I do not want to make teaching films. If I did, I would create a separate organization. It is not higher education that interests me so much as general mass education.

Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows.

I just want to leave you with this thought, that it's just been sort of a dress rehearsal, and we're just getting started. So if any of you start resting on your laurels, I mean just forget it, because...we are just getting started.

It is good to have a failure while you're young because it teaches you so much. For one thing it makes you aware that such a thing can happen to anybody, and once you've lived through the worst, you're never quite as vulnerable afterward.

It is a curious thing that the more the world shrinks because of electronic communications, the more limitless becomes the province of the storytelling entertainer.

A prayer, it seems to me, implies a promise as well as a request; at the highest level, prayer not only is a supplication for strength and guidance, but also becomes an affirmation of life and thus a reverent praise of God.

The life and ventures of Mickey Mouse have been closely bound up with my own personal and professional life.

A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.

We like to have a point of view in our stories, not an obvious moral, but a worthwhile theme. ... All we are trying to do is give the public good entertainment. That is all they want.

Fear too often spells failure.

Sometimes I think of myself as a little bee. I go from one area of the studio to another and gather pollen and sort of stimulate everybody. I guess that's the job I do.

Well it took many years. I started with many ideas, threw them away, started all over again. And eventually it evolved into what you see today at Disneyland.

I am a patient listener, but opinionated to the point of stubbornness when my mind is made up.

No one person can take credit for the success of a motion picture. It's strictly a team effort. From the time the story is written to the time the final release print comes off the printer, hundreds of people are involved -- each one doing a job -- each job contributing to the final product.

In learning the art of storytelling by animation, I have discovered that language has an anatomy.

No matter what the provocation, I never fire a man who is honestly trying to deliver a job. Few workers who become established at the Disney Studio ever leave voluntarily or otherwise, and many have been on the payroll all their working lives.

In most instances, the driving force behind the action is the mood, the personality, the attitude of the character -- or all three. Therefore, the mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them.

Just make sure you never do less than your best.

Keep Moving Forward.

What ever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.

First. think
Second. believe
Third. dream
Fourth. dare.

Some dream it, some do it, some do both.

The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.

Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.

I first saw the site for Disneyland back in 1953, In those days it was all flat land -- no rivers, no mountains, no castles or rocket ships -- just orange groves, and a few acres of walnut trees.

Here is adventure. Here is romance. Here is mystery. Tropical rivers -- silently flowing into the unknown. The unbelievable splendor of exotic flowers … the eerie sound of the jungle … with eyes that are always watching. This is Adventureland.

Life is beautiful. It's about giving. It's about family.

I never intended to make art.

The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements, but rather with the things we do for others.

Whatever we accomplish is due to the combined effort.

I don't have depressed moods. I'm happy, just very, very happy.

To be successful you must be unique, you must be so different that if people want what you have, they must come to you to get it.

If watching is all you're going to do, then you're going to watch your life go by without you.

I just needed to get out on my own, live my own life. And I did, and it's great.

There is no magic in magic, it's all in the details.

The magic is as wide as a smile and as narrow as a wink, loud as laughter and quiet as a tear, tall as a tale and deep as emotion. So strong, it can lift the spirit. So gentle, it can touch the heart. It is the magic that begins the happily ever after.

Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination.

Worry is a waste of imagination.

All right. I'm corny. But I think there's just about a-hundred-and-forty-million people in this country that are just as corny as I am.

People often ask me if I know the secret of success and if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working.

I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it.

Disneyland would be a world of Americans, past and present, seen through the eyes of my imagination -- a place of warmth and nostalgia, of illusion and color and delight.

It seems to me shallow and arrogant for any man in these times to claim he is completely self-made, that he owes all his success to his own unaided efforts. Many hands and hearts and minds generally contribute to anyone's notable achievements.

The secret of making dreams come true can be summarized in four C's.They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy; and the greatest of these is Confidence.

While the worriers are worrying, the planners are planning and the accountants are figuring out why we can't afford it, I'm busy getting started.

It feels good when it helps to get a good seat for a football game. But it never helped me make a good film or a good shot in a polo game, or command the obedience of my daughter. It doesn.

Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive.

Your talent makes you who you are. You should be proud of it.

Believe in your dreams, no matter how impossible they seem.

Ideas come from curiosity.

The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.

All of our dreams can come true.

Think, Believe, Dream, and Dare.

A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep.

If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.

When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.

When I was poor living in a garage in Kansas I began to draw the mice that scampered over my desk. That is how Mickey Mouse was born.

Fantasy, if it's really convincing, can't become dated, for the simple reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time.

The four Cs of making dreams come true: Curiosity, Courage, Consistency, Confidence.

Everyone falls down. Getting back up is how you learn how to walk.

The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.

Have confidence in your ability to do it right, and work hard to do the best possible job.

You must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul.

All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them.