Whether You Think You Can Or

This quote is widely attributed to Ford, with its earliest documented appearance in the Reader's Digest of September 1947 in the form "Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right." Quote Investigator traces similar sentiments back much further, including to Virgil and to the motto "They can conquer who believe they can," suggesting the attribution to Ford may have crystallised around a pre-existing idea rather than an original coinage. It is consistent with Ford's known philosophy: when engineers told him his proposed V-8 engine cast in a single block was impossible, he is said to have replied, "Produce it anyway."