Photo: New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Fisher, Alan, photographer., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The animator and entrepreneur is the true definition of a pioneer.
By Chinyere Ibeh — Written on Dec 05, 2021
Every year on Walt Disney's birthday, which falls on December 5, we are reminded that he is still one of the most iconic names in entertainment.
His legacy lives on through not only his characters and films, but via the following Walt Disney quotes that will spark your own imagination.
In 1923, Disney and his brother Roy moved to Hollywood with cartoonist Ub Iwerks. In 1928, Disney developed his infamous character, Mickey Mouse.
The first successful film starring the character was a sound-and-music-equipped animated short called Steamboat Willie, which opened in Colony Theater in New York in November 1928, and Disney went on to produce more than 100 feature films in his lifetime.
Mickey’s friends, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto, were introduced in 1929’s Silly Symphonies — and the rest is history.
54 Best Walt Disney Quotes to Inspire Your Own Imagination
Walt Disney Quotes on Love
- “Disneyland is the result of love. We did not go into Disneyland to make money.”
- “There is great comfort and inspiration in the feeling of close human relationships and its bearing on our mutual forces — a powerful force, to overcome the ‘tough breaks’ which are certain to come to most of us from time to time.”
- “You can’t just let nature run wild.”
- “I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known.”
- “A man should never neglect his family for business.”
Photo: New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Fisher, Alan, photographer., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- “Togetherness, for me, means teamwork.”
- “The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements but rather with the things we do for the people we love and esteem.”
- “I have a great love of animals and laughter.”
Walt Disney Quotes on Imagination
- “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
- “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
- “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
- “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”
- “Always remember that this whole thing was started by a mouse.”
- “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.”
- "When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”
- “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.”
Photo: Encyclopedia Britannica
- “One day I learned that dreams exist to come true. And since that day I do not sleep for rest. I sleep just to dream.”
- “Dreams, ideas, and plans not only are an escape, they give me purpose, a reason to hang on.”
- “Ideas come from curiosity.”
- “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objections of normal adulthood.”
- “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.”
- “Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children’s approach to life. They’re people who don’t give a hang what the Jones’ do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life was brought — sometimes it isn’t much, either.”
- “Laughter is America’s most important export.”
Walt Disney Quotes on Life
- “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
- “When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”
- “The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.”
- “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.”
- “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.”
Photo: Pixabay via Creative Commons
- “I like the impossible because there’s less competition.”
- “Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.”
- “In bad times and good I have never lost my sense of zest for life.”
- “I prefer to amuse people in the hope that they will learn than to teach them in the hope they will have fun.”
- “Do your best work then try to trump it.”
- “Whatever you do, do it well.”
- “To the youngsters of today, I say believe in the future; the world is getting better.”
Photo: Encyclopedia Britannica
- “I always look on the optimistic side of life.”
- “It is good to have a failure while you’re young because it teaches you so much, and once you’ve lived through the worst, you’re never quite as vulnerable afterward.”
- “I believe in being a motivator.”
- “When we consider a project, we really study it — not the surface idea, but everything about it. And 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.”
- “You reach a point where you don’t work for money.”
- “Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards — the things we live by and teach our children — are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”
Walt Disney Quotes on Courage
- “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
- “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
- “I believe in being an innovator.”
- “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.”
- “First, think. Second, believe. Third, dream. And finally, dare.”
- “The difference between winning and losing is often not quitting.”
- “Don’t let your fears take the place of your dreams.”
- “Do a good job. You don’t have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself.”
- “We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public.”
- “Somehow I can’t believe there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy and the greatest of these is Confidence.”
- “I am not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other motion picture company.”
- “I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along with it.”
- “I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.”
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Chinyere Ibeh is a writer who covers zodiac signs, and entertainment and pop culture news.