Walt Disney Quotes & Sayings

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. — Walt Disney

You can't just let nature run wild. — Walt Disney

Leadership shows judgment, wisdom, personal appeal and proven competence. — Walt Disney

When you go to bat as many times as I do, you're bound to get a good average. That's why I keep my projects diversified. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

Animation is different from other parts. Its language is the language of caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon's unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

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

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. — Walt Disney

Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won't do that. — Walt Disney

I've wanted to do things; I wanted to build things, to get something going. — Walt Disney

Togetherness, for me, means teamwork. In my business of motion pictures and television entertainment, many minds and skillful hands must collaborate ... T he work seeks to comprehend the spiritual and material needs and yearnings of gregarious humanity. It makes us reflect how completely dependent we are upon one another in our social and commercial life. — Walt Disney

Whether you say you can't or you can, you're right. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

Ideas come from curiosity. — Walt Disney

It has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement- I knew when I was a kid. — Walt Disney

The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else which makes you unique. The problem with most people is that they spend their lives trying to emulate others and so we have lots of copies but few originals. — Walt Disney

It's a mistake not to give people a chance to learn to depend on themselves while they are young. — Walt Disney

The most exciting and by far the most important part of our Florida Project - in fact, the heart of everything we'll be doing in Disney World - will be our Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow! We call it EPCOT. — Walt Disney

There's really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward - opening up new doors and doing new things - because we're curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We're always exploring and experimenting. We call it Imagineering - the blending of creative and imagination with technical know-how. — Walt Disney

Every leader is telling a story ... about what he or she values. — Walt Disney

Disneyland is something that will never be finished. It's something that I can keep developing. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. But I can change the park, because it's alive. — Walt Disney

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

Worry is a waste of imagination. — Walt Disney

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

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

Main Street, U.S.A. is America at the turn of the century
the crossroads of an era. The gas lamps and the electric lamp
the horse-drawn car and auto car. Main Street is everyone's hometown- the heart line of America. — Walt Disney

Anything that has the Disney name to it is something we feel responsible for. — Walt Disney

There is nothing wrong with good schmaltz, nothing wrong with good heart ... The critics think I'm kind of corny. Well, I am corny. As long as people respond to it, I'm okay. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

To succeed, work hard, never give up and above all cherish a magnificent obsession. — Walt Disney

Speaking for the one field which I feel definitely qualified to comment on, I fully believe the animated picture will emerge as one of the greatest mediums, not only of entertainment but also of education. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

I am not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other motion picture company. — Walt Disney

Being a celebrity doesn't even seem to keep the fleas off our dogs - and if being a celebrity won't give me an advantage over a couple of fleas, then I guess there can't be much in being a celebrity after all. — Walt Disney

You reach a point where you don't work for money. — Walt Disney

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

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

Fancy being remembered around the world for the invention of a mouse! — Walt Disney

IT'S OUR AMERICA - DO SOMETHING TO PRESERVE ITS' BEAUTY STRENGTH, AND NATURAL
WEALTH — Walt Disney

To captivate our varied and worldwide audience of all ages, the nature and treatment of the fairy tale, the legend, the myth have to be elementary, simple. Good and evil, the antagonists of all great drama in some guise, must be believably personalized. The moral ideals common to all humanity must be upheld. The victories must not be too easy. Strife to test valor is still and will always be the basic ingredient of the animated tale, as of all screen entertainments. — Walt Disney

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 — Walt Disney

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 — Walt Disney

Women are the best judges of anything we turn out. Their taste is very important. They are the theatergoers; they are the ones who drag the men in. If the women like it, to heck with the men. — Walt Disney

I wanted to retain my individuality. I was afraid of being hampered by studio policies. I knew if someone else got control, I would be restrained. — Walt Disney

My greatest reward is that I have been able to build this wonderful organization. — Walt Disney

Disneyland is the star, everything else is in the supporting role. — Walt Disney

Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future. — Walt Disney

I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

We did it Disneyland, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within the first year. — Walt Disney

Besides, you don't work for a dollar - you work to create and have fun. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

Life is beautiful. It's about giving. It's about family. — Walt Disney

I don't pretend to know anything about art. I make pictures for entertainment, and then the professors tell me what they mean. — Walt Disney

At first the cartoon medium was just a novelty, but it never really began to hit until we had more than tricks ... until we developed personalities. We had to get beyond getting a laugh. They may roll in the aisles, but that doesn't mean you have a great picture. You have pathos in the thing. — Walt Disney

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

Family fun is as necessary to modern living as a kitchen refrigerator. — Walt Disney

When we consider a project, we really study it-not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job. — Walt Disney

Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America. — Walt Disney

EPCOT will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise. — Walt Disney

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

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. — Walt Disney

I don't want to please everybody. I'd get a little worried if I did something and everybody was pleased with it. — Walt Disney

Money-or rather the lack of it to carry out my ideas-may worry me, but it does not excite me. — Walt Disney

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

As the original Mary Poppins budget of five million dollars continued to grow, I never saw a sad face around the entire Studio. And this made me nervous. I knew the picture would have to gross 10 million dollars for us to break even. But still there was no negative head-shaking. No prophets of doom. Even Roy was happy. He didn't even ask me to show the unfinished picture to a banker. The horrible thought struck me - suppose the staff had finally conceded that I knew what I was doing. — Walt Disney

People look at you and me to see what they are supposed to be. And, if we don't disappoint them, maybe, just maybe, they won't disappoint us. — Walt Disney

It's always a challenge bringing a great story classic to the screen. Giving visual form to the characters and places that have only existed in the imagination. But it's the kind of challenge we enjoy. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

The difference in the profit and loss is usually ... do not quit. — Walt Disney

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

I don't believe in talking down to children. I don't believe in talking down to any certain segment. — Walt Disney

Any dream is possible, if you have courage. — Walt Disney

I believe in being a modivator. — Walt Disney

Every man is captain of his career and there must be cooperation all around if he is to get what he wants out of life. — Walt Disney

I believe that laughter is our greatest export — Walt Disney

The idea of Disneyland is a simple one. It will be a place for people to find happiness and knowledge. — Walt Disney

People still think of me as a cartoonist, but the only thing I lift a pen or pencil for these days is to sign a contract, a check, or an autograph. — Walt Disney

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

If it can be dreamed, it can be done. — Walt Disney

Do what you do so well that those who see you do what you do are going to come back to see you do it again and tell others that they should see you do what you do. — Walt Disney

Always, as you travel, assimilate the sounds and sights of the world. — Walt Disney

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner. — Walt Disney

I started, actually, to make my first animated cartoon in 1920. Of course, they were very crude things then and I used sort of little puppet things. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

Disneyland is a show. — Walt Disney

Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. — Walt Disney

Give the public everything you can give them, keep the place as clean as you can keep it, keep it friendly. — Walt Disney

Many hands and hearts and minds generally contribute to anyone's notable achievements. — Walt Disney

I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities, or for those who fawn over you just because you are famous. — Walt Disney

I don't know if it's art, but I know I like it. — Walt Disney

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

I don't like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It's just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess. — Walt Disney

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. — Walt Disney

I have a great love of animals and laughter. — Walt Disney

I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination. — Walt Disney

People spend money when and where they feel good. — Walt Disney

I have long felt that the way to keep children out of trouble is to keep them interested in things. Lecturing to children is no answer to delinquency. Preaching won't keep youngsters out of trouble, but keeping their minds occupied will. — Walt Disney

Today we are shapers of the world of tomorrow. — Walt Disney