If you were born after 1930 and you haven't been living under a rock, chances are likely that Walt Disney's legacy has influenced your childhood. You probably grew up wanting to be like a "Disney princess" or dreamed about going on adventures like a "Disney hero." We're always talking about what Walt Disney's movies have taught us, but there's also much to learn from the legend himself. Here are seven of Walt Disney's most inspiring quotes to inspire you to dream, imagine, create, and achieve the impossible.
1. "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
This quote is all the more touching when you understand Walt Disney's humble beginnings. At age 22, Walt experienced bankruptcy after the failure of his first animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram. Walt lost ownership of his first major cartoon character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and was betrayed by the artists who worked for him. When Walt wanted to make a full-length animated feature film, people called his dream, "Disney's Folly." But none of this discouraged Walt Disney. In fact, his company is still the top animation studio in the world. On the train ride back home after finding out he lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney sketched the concept for what would become Mickey Mouse. "Disney's Folly," is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and upon its initial release earned the equivalent of $134 million in today's money. Take that, haters.
2. "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality."
Walt Disney knew that it takes a team to enact a plan. Although notorious for being a very strict boss, Disney held his employees to the standard of excellence that he held for himself. He expected a lot out of his employees because he believed they could achieve a lot. He couldn't understand people who worked only to make a living; when he saw talent, he rewarded it.
3."It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
Walt Disney has won the most Academy Awards and nominations of anyone in the world. He created more than 81 feature films and hundreds of shorts. He earned more than 950 honors, including 48 Academy Awards. He founded the California Institute of Arts, Disneyland and posthumously Disney World. He has a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and even a planet is named after him (4017 Disneya). For Walt Disney, "impossible" wasn't in his vocabulary.
4. "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
Walt Disney definitely believed in dreaming big (cue When You Wish Upon A Star) but he also knew that you need to take action to achieve your dreams. Anything Walt Disney ever talked about, he made big and better than he ever could of described.
5. "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
When Walt Disney needed tools that didn't exist yet, he didn't give up. Instead, he invented the multiplane camera and his Imagineering department has made huge contributions to science and technological engineering, such as synthetic humans and touch sensitive plants.
Walt Disney left behind a legacy of fame, fortune, and inspiration, but throughout his childhood and youth, he was impoverished and considered a failure. His life is proof that anyone, young or old, rich or poor, can achieve the impossible and realize their dreams. As Walt Disney said, the secret to making dreams come true lies in the "four C's. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of these is confidence."
