Thomas A. Edison Quotes
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I am not overly impressed by the great names and reputations of those who might be trying to beat me to an invention. It's their 'ideas' that appeal to me. I am quite correctly described as 'more of a sponge than an inventor.
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There is no subsitute for hard work.
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Nature made us - nature did it all - not the gods of the religions.
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The stomach is the only part of man which can be fully satisfied. The yearning of man's brain for new knowledge and experience and for more pleasant and comfortable surroundings never can be completely met. It is an appetite which cannot be appeased.
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I love great music and art, but I think 'cubist' songs and paintings are hideous.
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The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.
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To get a great idea, come up with lots of them.
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I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul. No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life - our desire to go on living - our dread of coming to an end.
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I am a vegetarian as well as a passionate anti-alcoholic, because I can thus make better use of my brain.
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Because ideas have to be original only with regard to their adaptation to the problem at hand, I am always extremely interested in how others have used used them.
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No, I haven't failed thousands of times. On the contrary, I have successfully eliminated thousands of ideas that do not work!
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Failure is really a matter of conceit. People don't work hard because, in their conceit, they imagine they'll succeed without ever making an effort. Most people believe that they'll wake up some day and find themselves rich. Actually, they've got it half right, because eventually they do wake up.
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I am much less interested in what is called God's word than in God's deeds. All bibles are man-made.
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Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
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It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
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The first requisite for success is to develop the ability to focus and apply your mental and physical energies to the problem at hand - without growing weary. Because such thinking is often difficult, there seems to be no limit to which some people will go to avoid the effort and labor that is associated with it.
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 foundations and individual donors whose priorities don't align with my organization's.
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An average American loves his family. If he has any love left over for some other person, he generally selects Mark Twain.
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Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait.
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There is no limit to which a man will not go to avoid thinking.
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If the Nation can issue a dollar bond it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money broker collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%. Whereas the currency, the honest sort provided by the Constitution pays nobody but those who contribute in some useful way. It is absurd to say our Country can issue bonds and cannot issue currency. Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurer and the other helps the People.
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The trouble with most people is that they quit before they start.
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The man who doesn’t make up his mind to cultivate the habit of thinking misses the greatest pleasure in life.
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Smoking too much makes me nervous. Must lasso my natural tendency to acquire such habits. Holding heavy cigar constantly in my mouth has deformed my upper lip, it has a sort of Havana curl.