“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

Source: My Life and Work (1922), p. 72. Chapter IV, : Remark about the Model T in 1909; this has often been paraphrased, e.g.: "You can have any color as long as it's black."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 17, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." by Henry Ford?
Henry Ford photo
Henry Ford 80
American industrialist 1863–1947

Related quotes

Peter F. Drucker photo

“When Henry Ford said, "The customer can have a car in any color as long as it's black," he was not joking.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Source: 1960s - 1980s, MANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973), Part 1, p. 209

Jacoba van Heemskerck photo

“I work a lot and I think a lot. I really want to try to paint on glass.. Please will you ask him [mr. architect Taut ] if there are any transparent colors, which one can use to paint on the glass directly... I want to dispose of a new technique in which the artist can paint on the glass directly instead of canvas. When one wants to reach colors spiritually-bright, then a time will come that oil-paint and canvas are no longer suitable... So, if you have time, please ask Mr. Taut if he understands my view and maybe he knows the ways how I can follow my direction.”

Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923) Dutch painter

translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018
(original version, written by Jacoba in German:)Ich arbeite sehr viel und denke sehr viel. Ich möchte so gern versuchen, auf Glas zu mahlen. .. ..bitte fragen sie ihn dann [Herr Taut] ob es transparante Farbe gibt, womit man gleich auf Glas malen kann. .. ..ich möchte eine neue Technik haben, dass der Künstler so direkt das Glas verwenden kann statt Leinwand. Wenn man die Farben leuchtend geistlich haben will, dann wird es eine Zeit kommen, dass Oelfarben und Leinwand sich dafür nicht mehr eignen.. ..So wenn Sie Zeit haben, fragen Sie dann Herrn Taut ob er meine Idee versteht und vielieich den Weg kennt, den ik gehen müsse.
in a letter to Herwarth Walden, 11 Nov. 1914; as cited by Arend H. Huussen Jr. in Jacoba van Heemskerck, kunstenares van het Expressionisme, Haags Gemeentemuseum The Hague, 1982, p. 19
It was not until April 1918 that Jacoba wrote Walden she had decided to submit a series of designs for stained glass windows for the upcoming 'Sturm' exhibition - in April 1919 she sent him ten stained-glass windows, 'Nrs. 12-26'
1910's

E.E. Cummings photo
John Updike photo
Edward Hopper photo

“If this end is unattainable, so, it can be said, is perfection in any other ideal of painting or in any other of man's activities.”

Edward Hopper (1882–1967) prominent American realist painter and printmaker

1911 - 1940, Notes on Painting - Edward Hopper (1933)

Jeremy Clarkson photo

“It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.”

Jeremy Clarkson (1960) English broadcaster, journalist and writer

Sunday Times May 17, 2009, reviewing the Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article6294116.ece

Swami Vivekananda photo

“So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that there is imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have any desire.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

Hillary Clinton photo
Guity Novin photo
Jeremy Corbyn photo

“We have long argued that a customs union is a viable option for the final deal. So Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.”

Jeremy Corbyn (1949) British Labour Party politician

Jeremy Corbyn backs permanent customs union after Brexit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43189878, BBC News, 26 February 2018
2010s, 2018

Related topics