Explore Walt Disney's insightful and inspiring quotes on prayer, fantasy, humor, goals, and more. Enter the mind of a creative genius and discover how to make the world better through entertainment and community.
Walter Elias Disney was an American animator, film producer, and entrepreneur who revolutionized the animation industry. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney displayed a passion for drawing from an early age and became a commercial illustrator at just 18 years old. Alongside his brother Roy, he established the Disney Brothers Studio and introduced groundbreaking advancements such as synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, and feature-length cartoons.
Disney's most iconic creation came in 1928 with the introduction of Mickey Mouse, which quickly gained immense popularity. His studio continued to innovate with films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. After World War II, Disney ventured into live-action films such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Mary Poppins. Additionally, he expanded into the amusement park industry by opening Disneyland in California in 1955.
Despite his shy and self-deprecating nature in private, Disney possessed high standards for his work and those around him. While some have accused him of racism or anti-Semitism, these claims have been contradicted by many who knew him. Regardless of differing interpretations of his legacy, Disney remains one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. His contributions to animation and entertainment are celebrated worldwide through his films and theme parks, while his company has become one of the largest mass media conglomerates in history.
“All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 3 : Imagination Unlimited, p. 63; Unsourced variant: All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.
Stating that the development of the Mickey Mouse character was inspired by Charlie Chaplin's character "the Tramp", as quoted in How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004) by Pat Williams and Jim Denney, p. 52
Context: We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could.
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: 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. Without such inspiration, we would rapidly deteriorate and finally perish. But in our troubled time, the right of men to think and worship as their conscience dictates is being sorely pressed. We can retain these privileges only by being constantly on guard and fighting off any encroachment on these precepts. To retreat from any of the principles handed down by our forefathers, who shed their blood for the ideals we still embrace, would be a complete victory for those who would destroy liberty and justice for the individual.
“Childishness? I think it's the equivalent of never losing your sense of humor.”
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
Context: 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.
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
A similar quotes about EPCOT and other similar statements about Disneyland also exist.
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
Variant: Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.
As quoted in How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life by Pat Williams, Jim Denney
As quoted in "COSI exhibit explores world of cartoons" by Jeffrey Zupanic in The Review (2 August 2007) http://www.the-review.com/news/article/2344671
“That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget.”
From Walt Disney World: Then, Now, & Forever: 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. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize.
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
Context: 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 twelve years old. They patronize; they treat children as inferiors. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize.
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
Context: 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 interview, New York Times, (March 1938).
“Deeds rather than words express my concept of the part religion should play in everyday life.”
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: Deeds rather than words express my concept of the part religion should play in everyday life. I have watched constantly that in our movie work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether it deals with fable or with stories of living action.
“All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me…”
As quoted in The Story of Walt Disney (1957)
Context: All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: I don't believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn't treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should.
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. Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil, and that is what our pictures attempt to do.
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 1 : It All Started with a Boy, p. 16
Context: I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter. With the laugh comes the tears and in developing motion pictures or television shows, you must combine all the facts of life — drama, pathos and humor.
As quoted in "The Rides of Passage" in Via magazine (July 2005)
Context: 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. In this new dimension, whatever it is, nothing corrodes or gets run down at the heel or gets to look ridiculous like, say, the celluloid collar or the bustle.
As quoted in Walt Disney, Magician of the Movies (1966) by Bob Thomas p. 116
“I told her that was just the point — mine wouldn't be.”
As quoted in "The Rides of Passage" in Via magazine (July 2005) http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/ride_yourlife05.asp
Context: When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, "But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty." I told her that was just the point — mine wouldn't be.
“Well, my greatest reward, I think, is that I've been able to build this wonderful organization.”
Interview with Fletcher Markle (25 September 1963) in Walt Disney: Conversations (2006) edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson The Walt Disney Story (1973) http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id140.htm
Context: Well, my greatest reward, I think, is that I've been able to build this wonderful organization. I've been able to enjoy good health, and the way I feel today, I feel like I can still go on being part of this thing after forty some odd years of business, and also, to have the public appreciate and accept what I've done all these years. That, that is a great reward. … Well of course, happiness is a state of mind. You can be happy or you can be unhappy. It's just according to the way you look at things. You know. So I think happiness is contentment but it doesn't mean you have to have wealth. But all individuals are different. Some of us just wouldn't be satisfied with just carrying out a routine job and being happy. Yet I envied those people. I had a brother who I really envied because he was a mailman. But he's the one that had all the fun. He had himself a trailer, and he used to go out and go fishing, and he didn't worry about payrolls and stories and picture grosses or anything. And he was the happy one. I always said, "He's the smart Disney."
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: 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. Without such inspiration, we would rapidly deteriorate and finally perish. But in our troubled time, the right of men to think and worship as their conscience dictates is being sorely pressed. We can retain these privileges only by being constantly on guard and fighting off any encroachment on these precepts. To retreat from any of the principles handed down by our forefathers, who shed their blood for the ideals we still embrace, would be a complete victory for those who would destroy liberty and justice for the individual.
As quoted in A Walt Disney World Resort Outing : The Only Vacation Planning Guide Exclusively for Gay and Lesbian Travelers (2002) by Dann Hazel and Josh Fippen, p. 211
Context: All we ever intended for him or expected of him was that he should continue to make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him. We didn't burden him with any social symbolism, we made him no mouthpiece for frustrations or harsh satire. Mickey was simply a little personality assigned to the purposes of laughter.
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: I don't believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn't treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should.
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. Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil, and that is what our pictures attempt to do.
“The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be.”
As quoted in A Walt Disney World Resort Outing : The Only Vacation Planning Guide Exclusively for Gay and Lesbian Travelers (2002) by Dann Hazel and Josh Fippen, p. 211
Context: I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty. Call the child "innocence". The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be. In my work I try to reach and speak to that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, is still reaching for the stars.
Speech on the opening day of Disneyland (17 July 1955) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf2TMwtCUr4
Context: To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America; with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.
EPCOT promotional film (1966)
Context: 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.
As quoted in The Magic of Teamwork (1997) by Pat Williams <!-- also quoted in The Disney Way Fieldbook (2000) by Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson, Act III : Dare, p. 147 -->
Context: Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk — especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going, pioneering an adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity.
From Walt Disney World: Then, Now, & Forever: 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. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize.
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
Context: 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 twelve years old. They patronize; they treat children as inferiors. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize.
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 15 : Walt Lives!, p. 379
“Art was always a means to an end with me.”
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 15 : Walt Lives!, p. 367
Context: Art was always a means to an end with me. You get an idea, and you just can't wait. Once you've started, then you're in there with the punches flying. There's plenty of trouble, but you can handle it. You can't back out. It gets you down once in a while, but it's exciting. Our whole business is exciting.
As quoted in Walt Disney, Magician of the Movies (1966) by Bob Thomas p. 116
Context: 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.
As quoted in "The Rides of Passage" in Via magazine (July 2005)
Context: 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.
“Born of necessity, the little fellow literally freed us of immediate worry.”
Quoted in A Walt Disney World Resort Outing : The Only Vacation Planning Guide Exclusively for Gay and Lesbian Travelers (2002) by Dann Hazel and Josh Fippen, p. 211, and Organisation And Complexity : Using Complexity Science to Theorise Organisational Aliveness (2004) by Jacco van Uden, p. 43
Context: Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end. He 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. 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.
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 6 : Triumph to Tragedy
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: Every person has his own ideas of the act of praying for God's guidance, tolerance, and mercy to fulfill his duties and responsibilities. My own concept of prayer is not as a plea for special favors nor as a quick palliation for wrongs knowingly committed. 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.
“Here in Florida … we have something special we never enjoyed at Disneyland — the blessing of size.”
EPCOT promotional film (1966)
Context: Here in Florida … we have something special we never enjoyed at Disneyland — the blessing of size. There's enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.
“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 and that maybe our pictures can help recall.
Recorded statement (1938) used in The Pixar Story (2008)
“We like to have a point of view in our stories, not an obvious moral, but a worthwhile theme.”
As quoted in The Gospel According to Disney : Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust (2004) by Mark I. Pinsky, p. 2
Context: 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.
Radio address "Our American Culture" broadcast during an intermission of the Metropolitan Opera. (1 March 1941)
Context: Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave. That is why I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary. Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life. All men will want to be free and share our way of life. There must be so much that I should have said, but haven't. What I will say now is just what most of us are probably thinking every day. I thank God and America for the right to live and raise my family under the flag of tolerance, democracy and freedom.
“Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence.”
Quoted in A Walt Disney World Resort Outing : The Only Vacation Planning Guide Exclusively for Gay and Lesbian Travelers (2002) by Dann Hazel and Josh Fippen, p. 211, and Organisation And Complexity : Using Complexity Science to Theorise Organisational Aliveness (2004) by Jacco van Uden, p. 43
Context: Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end. He 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. 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.
As quoted in The Gospel According to Disney : Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust (2004) by Mark I. Pinsky, p. 20
Context: Faith I have, in myself, in humanity, in the worthwhileness of the pursuits in entertainment for the masses. But wide awake, not blind faith, moves me. My operations are based on experience, thoughtful observation and warm fellowship with my neighbors at home and around the world.
“Until a character becomes a personality it cannot be believed.”
As quoted in Seven Minutes : The Life and Death of the American Animated Cartoon (1998) by Norman M. Klein. p. 48
Context: 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.
As quoted in Perceive This! : How to Get Everything You Want Out of Life by Changing Your Perceptions (2004) by Kevin A. Martin, Ch. 9, No Bar Too High!, p. 64
Context: Somehow, I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. The special secret it seems to me is summarized in four C's. They are Curiosity, Courage, Confidence and Constancy. And the greatest of all is Confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.
The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be. In my work I try to reach and speak to that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, is still reaching for the stars.
As quoted in A Walt Disney World Resort Outing : The Only Vacation Planning Guide Exclusively for Gay and Lesbian Travelers (2002) by Dann Hazel and Josh Fippen, p. 211
Deeds Rather Than Words (1963)
Context: 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.
As quoted in the film Meet the Robinsons.
Variant: Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
“Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.”
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
“We're not trying to entertain the critics … I'll take my chances with the public.”
As quoted in "Disneyland, 1955: Just Take the Santa Ana Freeway to the American Dream" by Karal Ann Marling, in American Art (Winter-Spring 1991)
Variant: We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public.
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it all started with a mouse.”
What Is Disneyland television program (27 October 1954)
Variants:
I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing — that it all started with a mouse.
As quoted in The Story of Disney (2004) by Adele D. Richardson, p. 41
Variant: I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.
As quoted in The Magic Kingdom : Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (2001) by Steven Watts, p. 401
“I believe in being an innovator.”
As quoted in Cult of the Mouse : Can We Stop Corporate Greed From Killing Innovation in America? (2004) by Henry M. Caroselli, p. 94
“You can't just let nature run wild.”
Walter Joseph Hickel, on the killing of wolves, as quoted in Living With Wolves (2005) by James Dutcher. p. 8
Misattributed
“For every laugh, there should be a tear.”
As quoted in The New York Times (2 November 2001); also in The Victory Letters : Inspiration for the Human Race (2003) by Cheri Ruskus, p. 79
“We allow no geniuses around our Studio.”
As quoted in Animated Architecture (1982) by Derek Walker, p. 10
Quoted in "The man behind 'The Magic Kingdom'" in The Gazette [Colorado Springs http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20050507/ai_n14625292/print (7 May 2005)]
As quoted in The Stuff Americans Are Made Of : The Seven Cultural Forces that Define Americans — A New Framework for Quality, Productivity, and Profitability (1996) by Joshua Hammond and James Morrison
“When we do fantasy, we must not lose sight of reality.”
As quoted in Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service (Disney Editions, 2001) p. 102
As quoted by Mike Strickland, Director of Photographers at Walt Disney, Co. in Power Marketing for Wedding and Portrait Photographers (2004) by Mitche Graf, p. 19
“They say I'm a conservative, but I consider myself a true liberal.”
As quoted in How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life by Pat Williams, Jim Denney, pg. 371
Statement of 1 October 1966, used in The Walt Disney Story (1973) https://waltdatedworld.com/id140.htm
Unsourced variant: Leadership implies a strong faith or belief in something. It may be a cause, an institution, a political or business operation in which a man takes active direction by virtue of his faith and self-assurance. And, of course, leadership means a group, large or small, which is willing to entrust such authority to a man — or a woman — in judgment, wisdom, personal appeal and proven competence.
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 4 : Animated Leadership, p. 102
“Girls bored me — they still do. I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known.”
As quoted in You Must Remember This (1975) by Walter Wagner
“We are not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other company.”
Interview with David Griffiths (1959); as quoted in Walt Disney : Conversations (2006) edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson
Paraphrased variant: I am not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other motion picture company.
“I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.”
As quoted in Success (2003) by Ariel Books
“A man should never neglect his family for business.”
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 14 : The Real Walt Disney, p. 361
