“I wasn’t born knowing what to do…
I was born falling down — and learned to build on every fall.”
As a kid, I preferred machines over books.
While others studied, I’d sneak away to watch mechanics fix cars.
My father was a blacksmith — we didn’t have much.
But I was certain of one thing:
One day, I’d build something big.
What I didn’t know back then was how many times I’d have to crash first —
both literally and metaphorically.
I was rejected when I applied to work as an engineer.
“Just a mechanic,” they said.
So, I started a tiny workshop… which collapsed in an earthquake.
I rebuilt it — then a war bomb destroyed it.
When I tried again, I had no money and no materials.
So I melted gasoline cans and made pistons by hand.
Finally, I built my first motorized bicycle.
People laughed.
“Looks like a toy,” they said.
“Who’d want that?”
Years later, those very bikes were selling by the millions.
When I founded Honda, they still doubted me.
But I no longer cared — because I had learned something more powerful than success:
I had learned how to endure.
I went from sleeping on the floor…
to seeing my name on engines around the world.
Not because I was the smartest —
but because I was the most stubborn.
Every time the world knocked me down,
I answered with a new idea, a new invention,
one more try.
And that’s what made all the difference.
“You don’t have to be perfect.
You just need to be stubborn with your dreams.
Because the ones who fall the most…
are often the ones who rise the strongest.”
— Soichiro Honda