Interview with Bruce Barton, "It Would Be Fun To Start Over Again," The American Magazine (April 1921)

There's just one thing that's permanent in this world, and that's change. And when a man gets too old to change, why, then, he dies. And after that, who knows? Do we go on somewhere else? We'd all like to think so; it seems sometimes as though something inside us was telling us that we do. But if we do live on, then one thing is sure: The fellows who are afraid all the time that they may lose what they've got will lose out over there just the way they lose out here. And the big prizes will keep right on going to the fellows who do their duty and have faith. That's all there is to happiness, according to my way of thinking—just doing your duty and having faith.

— Henry Ford

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "There's just one thing that's permanent in this world, and that's change. And when a man gets too old to change, why, then, he dies. And after that, who knows? Do we go on somewhere else? We'd all like to think so; it seems sometimes as though something inside us was telling us that we do. But if we do live on, then one thing is sure: The fellows who are afraid all the time that they may lose what they've got will lose out over there just the way they lose out here. And the big prizes will keep right on going to the fellows who do their duty and have faith. That's all there is to happiness, according to my way of thinking—just doing your duty and having faith." in the context of "Interview with Bruce Barton, "It Would Be Fun To Start Over Again," The American Magazine (April 1921)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Henry Ford" (Quotes, 1920s) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Henry Ford

About Henry Ford

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist and business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that middle-class Americans could afford, he converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into an accessible utility that profoundly impacted the landscape of the 20th century. Ford was an antisemite who promoted The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion in the collection of articles known as The International Jew.