1. “We only have one future, and it will be made of our dreams, if we have the courage to challenge convention.” –

2. “I just wouldn’t give in, no way.” –

3. “I think best when I have a wrench in my hands.” –

4. “If you make a superior product, people will buy it.” –

5. “Profound belief in something allows every individual to find an immense inner force, and to overcome his or her failings.” –

6. “You don’t measure a man’s greatness by his physical size, but by his acts, by the impact he makes on human history.” –

7. “I would have to put in the necessary time, but nothing could stop me from succeeding.” –

8. “Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless.”-

9. “When you place yourself in situations where there are no alternatives, a kind of freedom is born in you, the freedom that comes from a decision you made from which there is no turning back.” –

10. “We all have the right to our crazy dreams.” –

11. “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.” –

12. “Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure.” –

13. “I forced myself to be enthusiastic.” –

14. “I enjoy working, and it isn’t because I’m president that I would deprive myself of that pleasure!” –

15. “Real happiness lies in the completion of work using your own brains and skills.” –

16. “The worst kind of president is a person who eats in fancy restaurants, smoking a fat cigar and thinking well of himself while employees work in a dirty factory with their hands dirty. If you’re like a god, people will respect you, but they won’t come close.” –

17. “There are… qualities which… lead to success. Courage, perseverance, the ability to dream and to persevere.” –

18. “I let no one disturb my concentration… Even hunger could not disturb me.” –

19. “When you fail, you also learn how not to fail.” –

20. “[On Napoleon] I imagined him to have a physique as imposing and strong as his reputation merited. When I discovered from reading history books that he was a small man, I was not at all disillusioned. I’m not very big myself, and it was obvious that you don’t measure a man’s greatness by his physical size, but by his acts, by the impact he makes on human history. I also learned that Napoleon was of humble origin, that probably his family was very poor. So it wasn’t necessary to be born a nobleman or rich to succeed in life. There are other qualities which also lead to success. Courage, perseverance, the ability to dream and to persevere.” –

21. “Instead of being afraid of the challenge and failure, be afraid of avoiding the challenge and doing nothing.” –

22. “Many people dream of success. To me, success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection.” –

23. “A lot of my friends top me I’d be better off staying in my garage, growing little by little, letting my business prosper in this way rather than undertaking risky adventures. I had invested all my savings into this operation. I felt responsible to those with whom I’d gotten involved, and I said to myself that by closing my garage at the age of 30, I had perhaps missed my chance and sunk my own ship.” –

24. “I don’t regret the thousands of times I came home empty-handed, having lost all my ammunition and bait. When the days get as gloomy as that, then you know you will soon find the treasure…” –

25. “Hope, makes you forget all the difficult hours.” –

26. “In the lab, 99 percent of the people are working on lost causes. The modest percentage of success, nevertheless, serves to compensate for all the rest of the effort.” –

27. “The laboratory of a factory is the best place to learn about failure!” –

28. “Success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents 1 percent of your work which results only from the 99 percent that is called failure. Many people dream of success. To me success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents 1 percent of your work which results only from the 99 percent that is called failure.Success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection.” –

29. “A company is most clearly defined not by its people or its history, but by it’s products.” –

30. “I’d sooner die than imitate other people… That’s why we had to work so hard! Because we didn’t imitate.” –

31. “Success is 99% failure.” –

32. “If you hire only people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don’t particularly like.” –

33. “You direct a garage or a business like you drive a bus. It does its round, stopping to pick people up, but it can’t make a long distance trip. Of course you can be happy driving the same route all your life. But I wanted to drive bigger and faster buses, and see other places.” –

34. “If I’d had to manage my company myself, I would have very quickly gone bankrupt.
Why should a man… spend his days seated behind a desk, twiddling his thumbs to pass the time?” –

35. “I got myself completely absorbed in my job as apprentice inventor. I let no one disturb my concentration, not even my friends with whom I enjoyed spending time and doing a thousand things. ‘Time for supper!’ My mother had to force me to come to the table, since my mind was elsewhere, my ears blocked. ‘I’m coming!’ I would answer politely, and then get back to work. So she ended up by respecting my work and letting me finish what I had to do. Even hunger could not disturb me.” –

36. “The moment had come to start working on realizing another dream. Trying to win Formula 1 was for many trying to accomplish the impossible. But my decision was made, once and for all. I would have to put in the necessary time, but nothing could stop me from succeeding.” –

37. “I finally became an independent man, a real man, master of his legs, head, destiny, of his timetable and the risks he knew he should take.” –

38. “A diploma is less useful than a ticket to a movie.” –

39. “It wasn’t necessary to be born a nobleman or rich to succeed in life.” –

40. “There is a Japanese proverb that literally goes ‘Raise the sail with your stronger hand’, meaning you must go after the opportunities that arise in life that you are best equipped to do.” –

41. “Man is not interesting without some imperfection.” –

42. “90% of success is failure.” –

43. “The value of life can be measured by how many times your soul has been deeply stirred.” –

44. “Enjoying your work is essential. If your work becomes an expression of your own ideas, you will surely enjoy it.” –

45. “Each individual should work for himself. People will not sacrifice themselves for the company. They come to work at the company to enjoy themselves.” –

46. “What we learn through failure becomes a precious part of us, strengthening us in everything we do. So let the tough things make you tougher.” –

47. “We will not be content with this victory alone [first win in F1]. We will study why we won and aggressively apply those winning technologies to new cars.” –

48. “My biggest thrill is when I plan something and it fails. My mind is then filled with ideas on how I can improve it.” –

49. “The day I stop dreaming is the day I die.” –

50. “When I started making motorcycles, the prophets of doom, some of them my friends, came to discourage me. ‘You’d be better off opening another garage, in the country or in Tokyo. You’ll make a lot of money. There are a lot of cars that need to be repaired in this country.’ I didn’t listen to them, and despite their pessimistic advice I created, on the 24th of September, 1948, next door to my research laboratory, the Honda Motor Company, which today is successful around the world.” –

51. “When I take stock of life, I realize how important the personal contact is, how much more they are worth than the invention of machines, because [people] allow us to expand our view of things, and open up thousands of experiences which we would otherwise be unable to understand.” –

52. “Henceforth I went to school every morning, and in the evening when I came home I would practise what I’d learned in my little studio. I forced myself to be enthusiastic. But I had no choice, and when you place yourself in situations where there are no alternatives, a kind of freedom is born in you, the freedom that comes from a decision you made from which there is no turning back. A thousand reasons to persevere filled my mind. Friends had placed their confidence in me, and my father too, as well as all the men who worked with me. I no longer had the right to go back, and only school could get me what I wanted – to become an engineer, to be able to theorize my technological intuition and assure production. I solemnly said to myself: If I give up now, everyone will die of hunger. And I imagined the pathetic state of all those people who were depending on me.” –

53. “We do not make something because the demand, the market, is there. With our technology we can create demand, we can create the market. Supply creates its own demand.” –

54. “The students’ attitude surprised me. They didn’t really try to understand anything. Instead, they just took their notes and learned all the theories by heart without drawing any conclusions or verifying the theories with the aid of experiments.” –

55. “[On going to university but having no desire of getting a diploma or doing any exams] The only thing that interested me was acquiring knowledge that I lacked as quickly as possible.”-

56. “A degree, is worth less than a ticket to a movie…A degree is a piece of paper that confirms that, during his or her youth, the student was diligent, disciplined, and probably quite detached from real life.” –

57. “Every human being has the desire to improve.” –

58. “I am not impressed by diplomas. They don’t do the work. My marks were not as good as those of others, and I didn’t take the final examination. The principal called me in and said I should leave. I told him that I didn’t want a diploma – it had less value than a cinema ticket. A ticket at least guaranteed you would get in. A diploma guaranteed nothing.” –

59. “If it’s something a person can do, then it’s something I can do. What is there that a person can do that I can’t do? That’s what I always said.” –

60. “Each individual should work for himself – that’s important.” –

61. “People will not sacrifice themselves for the company. They come to work at the company to enjoy themselves. That feeling will lead to innovation.” –

62. “Think young and quest for the ‘three joys’: creating, buying and selling.” –

63. “Where 100 people think, there are 100 powers; if 1,000 people think, there are 1,000 powers.” –

64. “Do not imitate others.” –

65. “Success is only 1% of your work, and the rest – bold overcoming of obstacles. If you are not afraid of them, success will come to you itself.” –

66. “I wanted to be Number 1 in the world, not just Japan.” –

67. “Looking back on my work, I feel that I was doing nothing more than mistakes, blunders and serious omissions. But I am proud of the achievements. Although I did one mistake after another, my mistakes and failures never occurred for the same reasons.”