William Boeing Quotes

101 William Boeing Quotes

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Science and hard work can lick what appear to be insurmountable difficulties.
William Boeing

Let no new improvement… pass us by.
William Boeing

To manufacture aeroplanes…
William Boeing

To maintain, carry on and operate schools of aviation…
William Boeing

The teaching of all branches of knowledge… in any way connected with or useful for the operation of aeroplanes…
William Boeing

Our country needs more airplanes.
William Boeing

The attitude of organized labor… must be weighed as one of the major factors by the company…
William Boeing

The difference between wage rates which Boeing has paid and those of competitive factories…
William Boeing

The company has remained in Seattle only with difficulty.
William Boeing

If that’s the way they’re going to run the business…
William Boeing



I don’t want any part of it.
William Boeing

I have realized $12,000,000.00…
William Boeing

It was no fault of mine…
William Boeing

A hostile foe might have been a bomb dropped upon you.
William Boeing

Aero Club of the Northwest.
William Boeing

Our task is to keep everlastingly at research and experiment.
William Boeing

To adapt our laboratories to production as soon as practicable, to let no new improvement in flying and flying equipment pass us by.
William Boeing

[To Conrad Westervelt] There isn’t much to that machine. I think we could build a better one.
William Boeing

We could build a better plane ourselves and build it faster.
William Boeing

[In 1929] Now I would say that people want to ride in airplanes more and more each day - and I shall go so far as to say they will someday regard airplane travel to be as commonplace and incidental as train travel... We are trustees of a veritable revolution that is taking place once more in the economic, social, and political fabric with the advent of this new speed medium.
William Boeing



[On a placard on the wall of his outer office] Hippocrates said: 1. There is no authority except facts. 2. Facts are obtained by accurate observation. 3. Deductions are to be made only from facts. 4. Experience has proved the truth of these rules
William Boeing

[On a frayed aileron cable] I for one, will close up shop rather than send out work of this kind.
William Boeing

[In 1915] At that time I was merely desirous of learning to fly. After making inquiries of various sources, I applied to the Glenn L. Martin School in Los Angeles for instruction. In August of that year, I started a course under the tutelage of Lloyd Smith. On completing the course, I ordered for my personal use a plane known as Model TA from the Martin factory.
William Boeing

The machine was delivered to me in October of 1915, and, being convinced that there was a definite future in aviation, I became interested in the construction as well as the flying of aircraft. Enlisting a group of technical assistants, less than a dozen men in all, work was begun in designing the first Boeing plane.
William Boeing

At that time, our combined factory and seaplane hangar were housed in a small building on the shores of Lake Union, and it was from there that I made the initial test flight of the first Boeing plane.
William Boeing

It now behooves us to devote our energies toward the development of machines which will be used in peacetimes. In this connection the first logical opening will be the development of a commercial flying boat.
William Boeing

[On the government ordering the three way demerger of his company which included United Airlines, Boeing and (Pratt & Whitney) United Aircraft Corporation] If that’s the way they’re going to run the business, I don’t want any part of it.
William Boeing

[In 1934 on his retirement] Now that I am retiring from active service in aircraft manufacturing and air transportation, to be so greatly honored as to be recipient of the Daniel Guggenheim Medal is a real climax of my life. As the past years devoted to aircraft activities have been filled with real romance, the many forward projects now in the making will continue to keep me on the sidelines as a keen and interested observer.
William Boeing

[On passenger airline services not existing in the 1920’s but instead growing from an airborne mail service where the Post Office was forced to transfer established routes to private operators] From the start of the mail operation, I looked ahead to the time... when passengers would become of primary importance.
William Boeing

I've tried to make the men around me feel, as I do, that we are embarked as pioneers upon a new science and industry in which our problems are so new and unusual that it behooves no one to dismiss any novel idea with the statement that 'it can't be done!'... Our job is to keep everlastingly at research and experiment, to let no new improvement in flying and flying equipment pass us by.
William Boeing



Boeing has always built tomorrow’s airplanes today!
William Boeing

[In 1916 on the purpose of the Boeing Airline Company] To manufacture aeroplanes and vehicles of aviation. To maintain, carry on and operate schools of aviation, and for the teaching of all branches of knowledge and of the arts and sciences in any way connected with or useful for the operation of aeroplanes and other vehicles of aviation.
William Boeing

I expected passengers to become of primary importance…
William Boeing

There is not much to that machine of Maroney’s. I think we could build a better one.
William Boeing

For our national defense, encourage aviation… for our country needs more airplanes.
William Boeing

The attitude of organized labor… must be weighed as one of the major factors by the company, in considering [these] overtures… Because of the difference between wage rates which Boeing has paid and those of competitive factories, the company has remained in Seattle only with difficulty. [It’s] market is a national or world market… This is what governs allowable production costs.
William Boeing

My firm conviction from the start has been that science and hard work can lick what appear to be insurmountable difficulties.
William Boeing

I have realized $12,000,000.00 in the period 1927-1933 from an original investment of $259.00. [259 dollars]
William Boeing

[In 1934 on his share holdings having a stock market valuation of $51,000,000.00] It was no fault of mine that it went up there.
William Boeing

[In 1915] Protection Through Preparedness. This harmless card in the hands of a hostile foe might have been a bomb dropped upon you. Aeroplanes are your defense!!!! Aero Club of the Northwest.
William Boeing



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