Thomas A. Edison Quotes
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I never knew I had an inventive talent until Phrenology told me so. I was a stranger to myself until then!
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Every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
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If I had not had so much ambition and not tried to do so many things, I probably would have been happier, but less useful.
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The injurious agent in cigarettes comes principally from the burning paper wrapper. The substance thereby formed is called "acrolein." It has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is quite rapid among boys. Unlike most narcotics, this degeneration is permanent and uncontrollable. I employ no person who smokes cigarettes.
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Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
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There is a better way for everything. Find it.
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A reporter called on Edison to interview him about a substitute for lead in the manufacture of storage batteries that the scientist was seeking. Edison informed the man that he had made 20,000 experiments but none had worked. "Aren't you discouraged by all this waste of effort?" the reporter asked. Edison: "Waste! There's nothing wasted. I have discovered 20,000 things that won't work."
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Never be discouraged, because every wrong turn attempt, when left behind you, is another step forward taking you closer to your goals.
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The only time I really become discouraged is when I think of all the things I would like to do and the little time I have in which to do them.
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Consider data without prejudice.
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For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope.
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The dove is my emblem.
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The inventor can't do it all, you've got to change people. We have an enormous capacity to invent super-machinery. But our desire to install the device is weak. Human inertia is the problem, not invention. Something in man makes him resist change.
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The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if on will only take the pains to train the mind to think.
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I would construct and work along various lines until I found them untenable. When one theory was discarded, I developed another at once. I realized very early that this was the only possible way for me to work out all the problems.
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I owe my success to the fact that I never had a clock in my workroom. Seventy-five of us worked twenty hours every day and slept only four hours - and thrived on it.
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The perils of overwork are slight compared with the dangers of inactivity.
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I am both pleased but astonished by the fact that mankind has not yet begun to use all the means and devices that are available for destruction. I hope that such weapons are never manufactured in quantity.
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Being busy does not always mean real work.
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I've never made a mistake. I've only learned from experience.
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All bibles are man-made.
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Continued innovation is the best way to beat the competition.
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Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I start where the last man left off... All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention pure and simple.
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I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.