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Who really said it

If you can dream it, you can do it

Not Walt Disney — claimed by Tom Fitzgerald Walt Disney Imagineer · wrote the Horizons script, Epcot, 1983
Ruled out for Walt Disney by the Disney Archives; the true originator is contested between a Disney Imagineer and a GE ad copywriter. Rights unconfirmed

Walt Disney never said this. Disney’s own archivist, Dave Smith, checked and found no record of it — the line was written for Horizons, the General Electric–sponsored Epcot pavilion that opened in 1983, seventeen years after Walt’s death. Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald told Smith flatly: “I am very familiar with that line because I wrote it!” At the ride it read “If we can dream it, we can do it.” A copywriter named Sheralyn Silverstein separately claims she coined the “you” wording in 1981 for a GE recruitment campaign — credible and endorsed by historian Jim Korkis, and GE brochures and recruitment ads printed in 1982, a year before Horizons opened, carry the exact “you” wording; no artifact dated to the 1981 writing itself has surfaced.

Last verified 14 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“If you can dream it, you can do it” Origin disputed. Written for Epcot's Horizons (1983) as "If we can dream it, we can do it" by Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald; copywriter Sheralyn Silverstein claims the "you" wording for a 1981–82 General Electric campaign. Not Walt Disney — the Disney Archives found no record of him saying it.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Walt Disney. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Tom Fitzgerald — 40+ years at WED/Imagineering · writer of Epcot's Horizons (1983). Theme: "If you can dream it, you can do it". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "If you can dream it, you can do it". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the line actually comes from

Work
Horizons, Epcot (Walt Disney World)
Opened
1 October 1983 — sponsored by General Electric
Written by
Tom Fitzgerald, Walt Disney Imagineering
Ride wording
“If we can dream it, we can do it” — not the “you” form

Despite its frequent publication, that is not a Walt Disney quote. We checked with Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald for the definitive answer: “I am very familiar with that line because I wrote it! It was written specifically for the Horizons attraction at Epcot and used in numerous ways, from dialogue in the ride to graphics. I find it amusing that the Science of Imagineering DVD series attributes it to Walt Disney, but I guess I should be flattered.” Debunked by Disney's own archivist

Dave Smith — Disney's founding archivist — answering the question directly in his Ask Dave column (D23, 2013), quoting Fitzgerald. The original D23 page is now offline; the text survives via Wikiquote ↗, which also cites Smith's Disney Trivia from the Vault (2012), p. 243.

Wikiquote: Walt Disney — Misattributed

How we verified this

This is not a public-domain line. Every documented version of it is a 1980s corporate work — either a 1981 General Electric recruitment campaign written at the Marsteller agency or the 1983 Horizons script for Walt Disney Imagineering — and the two claimants disagree about which came first, so we cannot identify the originating work with confidence. Note separately that short taglines of this kind generally fall below the threshold of copyright protection in the United States regardless of authorship; the live question here is credit, not licensing.

Fact-check

How a ride tagline became a founder's motto

This is the rare fake quote that Disney's own archives debunked — and that Disney itself keeps selling. It is arguably the single most-repeated line falsely credited to Walt Disney.

Walt Disney Misattributed

Disney's founding archivist, Dave Smith, addressed the question directly in his Ask Dave column: “Despite its frequent publication, that is not a Walt Disney quote.” Wikiquote files it under Misattributed ↗ on that authority. Walt Disney died in 1966; the line is documented only from the 1980s.

“you” vs. “we” Altered

The version at Epcot was collective: “If we can dream it, we can do it.” Attractions Magazine documents that form ↗ in the pavilion's entry hallway, ride dialogue, and post-1995 score. The familiar “you” wording is not the Horizons line.

Disney's own marketing Amplified

The misattribution was propagated by Disney itself — Fitzgerald noted it was the Science of Imagineering DVD series that credited the line to Walt, adding “I guess I should be flattered.” AllEars reports Disney still markets it on merchandise as Walt's ↗ despite zero evidence.

Tom Fitzgerald vs. Sheralyn Silverstein Contested

Fitzgerald told the Disney Archives he wrote it for Horizons. But copywriter Sheralyn Silverstein says she coined the “you” wording in 1981 at Marsteller for a General Electric recruitment campaign — and GE sponsored Horizons. Of Fitzgerald's claim she says: “I respectfully say he is incorrect” ↗.

The one thing every source agrees on: it isn't Walt's. Disney historian Jim Korkis leads his catalogue of fake Walt quotes with this one ↗ — and on the deeper question of who wrote it, Korkis concludes: “it seems like Silverstein should get credit for the line that we all know today” ↗.

Context

A corporate tagline that grew into a founder's creed

Horizons was Epcot's thesis statement in ride form — a General Electric–sponsored optimism machine about the future that families rode from 1983 into the late 1990s. Its message was communal by design: “If we can dream it, we can do it.” The pronoun mattered. It was a promise about what people could build together, sponsored by the company that wanted to hire them.

The line drifted. Somewhere between the pavilion wall and the internet, “we” became “you,” a collective promise became a personal one, and an anonymous staff writer's tagline was reassigned to the most quotable man in the building. By 2008 Disney's own Science of Imagineering DVD series was printing it as Walt's — and Disney has since sold it on merchandise under his name.

Walt Disney died in 1966. Horizons opened in 1983.

Why this one sticks so well

The misattribution survives because it is plausible. The sentiment genuinely echoes Walt Disney's public philosophy, and the line was born inside a Disney park — so it carries real Disney DNA even though Walt had nothing to do with it. That is the hardest kind of fake quote to dislodge: not a fabrication from nowhere, but a house-style line that got promoted to the founder.

Similar sentiments long predate both men. Gizmodo notes the resemblance to Napoleon Hill's Depression-era formula about what the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve — a reminder that “who first said it” and “who first phrased it this way” are different questions.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Creativity Success

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Walt Disney — Misattributed (Wikiquote)en.wikiquote.org

Files the line under Misattributed and quotes Dave Smith's Ask Dave answer with Fitzgerald's full statement, citing Disney Trivia from the Vault (2012), p. 243.
No, Walt Disney Didn't Say "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It"allears.net

The fullest write-up of both claims: Fitzgerald's Horizons authorship and Silverstein's 1981 GE/Marsteller account, plus Korkis's verdict.
Walt Disney's most inspiring quote isn't actually hisattractionsmagazine.com

Traces the GE recruitment tagline to Horizons and documents where the line appeared in the pavilion — entry hallway, ride dialogue, and post-1995 score.
FINALLY, the Origin of "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It"magicmadebydisney.com

The 2021 interview in which Sheralyn Silverstein gives her first-hand account, including Jack Welch's reaction, and disputes Fitzgerald directly.
Walt Never Said It (Jim Korkis)mouseplanet.com

Disney historian Jim Korkis's 2016 survey of fake Walt Disney quotes, opening with this one and crediting Fitzgerald.
8 Walt Disney Quotes That Are Actually Fakegizmodo.com

Lists the line as fake, quotes Dave Smith and Fitzgerald, and notes the earlier Napoleon Hill parallel.

Not the founder — the staff writer

The Imagineer who actually wrote it

Tom Fitzgerald

Walt Disney Imagineer · 40+ years at WED/Imagineering · writer of Epcot's Horizons (1983)

Tom Fitzgerald spent more than four decades at Walt Disney Imagineering, becoming one of the most influential creative leaders in the company's history. In the early 1980s he wrote the script for Horizons, the General Electric–sponsored Epcot pavilion, whose thesis line — “If we can dream it, we can do it” — ran through the entry hallway, the ride dialogue, and the score. When the line began circulating as Walt Disney's, Fitzgerald's reaction was wry rather than proprietary: “I guess I should be flattered.”

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented in

Dave Smith, "Ask Dave" (D23, 27 February–12 March 2013), quoting Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald; also Dave Smith, Disney Trivia from the Vault (2012), 243. Line written for Horizons, Epcot, opened 1 October 1983, as "If we can dream it, we can do it."

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If you can dream it, you can do it’?” Last verified 14 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-can-dream-it-you-can-do-it

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