Walt Disney

Walt Disney (1901–1966) built an animation studio in Los Angeles with his brother Roy, gambled it on the first feature-length cartoon, and went on to create a company that changed both animation and the theme park. He was a relentless promoter of his own optimism, which is why so many aspirational sayings circulate under his name. Historians of the studio have been unable to locate several of the most popular ones in anything he actually wrote or said — including the famous line about dreams coming true, which most likely originated with a company writer after his death. We flag those rather than repeat them as fact.