A man should never neglect his family for business.
~ Walt Disney
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.
Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.
I never called my work an 'art'. It's part of show business, the business of building entertainment.
I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse.
I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
I'd say it's been my biggest problem all my life... it's money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true.
Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.
You reach a point where you don't work for money.
Of all the things I've done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.
I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it.
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.
You can't just let nature run wild.
I don't like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It's just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.
All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.
We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children could have fun- together.
Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end.
We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public.
It's no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment.
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.
I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.
Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.
Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.
