The Magical World of Disney (TV Series)

From Aesop to Hans Christian Andersen (1955)

Walt Disney: Self - Host

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Walt Disney : Since the beginning of mankind, the fable tellers have not only given us entertainment, but a kind of wisdom, humor, and understanding that like all true art remains imperishable through the ages.

• [last lines] 

  Walt Disney : Isip, LaFontaine, the brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen. Down through the ages, the fables and stories of these talented men have been told and retold. And they will be told and retold for years to come.

• Walt Disney : Everyone knows who Hans Christian Andersen was, and almost everyone knows that this talented Dane was a writer with great originality and imagination who, like Aesop, wrote stories which contained a simple truth or moral. Some of his stories are based on his own experiences in his long struggle for success.

• Walt Disney : But Hans Christian Andersen's failure in the theater proved to be a blessing in disguise, for he returned to his world of fantasy and make-believe writing fairy tales which brought him the great success of which he had always dreamed. He was honored by kings in nations and acclaimed by all his countrymen. Andersen's success story is brought out in one of his own fairy tales. His awkward beginning to his rise to greatness is clearly paralleled in the story, "The Ugly Duckling."

• Walt Disney : But Aesop's fables did not die with him. They were remembered and cherished and passed along by word of mouth for over 300 years before they were finally set down in book form. They have been translated in every known language. And today, 2500 years later, his words of wisdom are still with us. Aesop gave his animal characters human personalities which have remained changeless throughout the centuries.