Theodore Levitt said: "People don't want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole"
Misquoted Confidence: high
Primary source found, but the way it is quoted changes the subject, metric, population or precision.
- Commonly cited as
- "People don't want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole" — Theodore Levitt
- True origin
- Quote Investigator — No One Wants a Drill. What They Want Is the Hole (Mar. 23, 2019; updated Apr. 6, 2025)
- Type
- Stat check: A widely repeated statistic traced back to its origin.
- Year
- 1942 (earliest match)
- Data as of
- Research updated Apr. 6, 2025
- Last checked
- What the source says
Clayton M. Christensen ascribed the saying to Theodore Levitt, but Levitt ascribed the remark to McGivena.
- Method & sample
- Quotation research: earliest match is a 1942 insurance advertisement; a 1947 book credited Leo McGivena.
- Drift between quote and source
- Attribution: Levitt quoted it in 1969 and credited Leo McGivena; Christensen later credited Levitt
- Interest
- Quote Investigator is an independent quotation-research site run by Garson O'Toole; no commercial interest in the quote.
Safe rephrasing
The 'quarter-inch hole' line is usually credited to Theodore Levitt, but Levitt himself credited Leo McGivena, and the earliest known version is a 1942 ad.
Sources we opened
Machine-readable: /api/claims/levitt-people-want-quarter-inch-hole-not-drill.json · Last checked 2026-10-16