Walter “Walt” Elias Disney (1901–66) was an American animator, movie and television producer, and entrepreneur. Disney became known worldwide for his cartoon characters that include Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto.
Born in Chicago, Disney attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and worked as a commercial artist in Kansas City before relocating to Hollywood in 1923. He launched an animation studio with his brother Roy. After numerous failed attempts during which the Disneys lived in utter poverty, they found success with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927.) Steamboat Willie (1928,) their first sound cartoon movie, introduced Mickey Mouse and became very successful.
Disney’s imagination fueled the Walt Disney Studio. He had little talent for sketch and illustration but inspired his talented staff with his enthusiasm and his commitment to technological advancements. He often worked until midnight and demanded the same of his employees.
Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first full-length cartoon with sound and color. The motion pictures Pinocchio (1940,) Fantasia (1940,) Bambi (1942,) Song of the South (1947,) Cinderella (1950,) and Peter Pan (1953) became immensely profitable through rereleases.
Disney was a shrewd entrepreneur. His Walt Disney Company (founded 1923) is one of the world’s most influential media corporations. Disney pioneered the use of brand licensing and merchandising and ventured into television when most producers avoided the new medium. In 1955, he created Disneyland in Anaheim, California, followed by Walt Disney World in Florida in 1971.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Walt Disney
There is great comfort and inspiration in the feeling of close human relationships and its bearing on our mutual fortunes – a powerful force, to overcome the “tough breaks” which are certain to come to most of us from time to time.
—Walt Disney
If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Leadership, Vision, Dreams
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.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Challenges, Adversity, Failure
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Curiosity, Action
I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
—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
Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.
—Walt Disney
Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.
—Walt Disney
Topics: General, Achievement, Confidence, Strength
Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Communication
If you don’t have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true?
—Walt Disney
When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Curiosity
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
Topics: Example
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Fun, Kind, Attitude, Possibilities, Imagination
We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Criticism
All our dreams can come true—if we have the courage to pursue them.
—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
Topics: Weight
All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Exaggeration
There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Books, Reading
I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.
—Walt Disney
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.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Freedom
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.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Accomplishment
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
Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Independence
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Action, Beginnings
I do not like to repeat successes. I like to go on to other things.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Success, Success & Failure, Goals
I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Books, Optimism, Reading
To all that 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 hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.
—Walt Disney
Our heritage and ideals, our codes 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
A dream is a wish your heart makes.
—Walt Disney
I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I’ve ever known.
—Walt Disney
Topics: Love
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Lady Bird Johnson First Lady of the United States
Charles M. Schulz American Cartoonist
Mary Pickford American-Canadian Film Actress
Marshall Field American Entrepreneur
Steven Spielberg American Film Director
Steve Jobs American Entrepreneur
Herbert Hoover American Statesman
William C. Durant American Industrialist
Martha Stewart American Businesswoman
Cecil B. DeMille American Filmmaker