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I Never Did Anything By Accident, Nor Did Any Of My Inventions Come By Accident; They Came By Work.
-Thomas A. Edison
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I Never Did Anything

Thomas A. Edison
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I Never Did Anything By Accident, Nor Did Any Of My Inventions Come By Accident; They Came By Work.

Understanding the Quote: "i never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions..."

This quote by Thomas A. Edison reflects deeply on the theme of inspirational. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Inspirational, Life, Motivational, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Thomas A. Edison interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Thomas A. Edison

Thomas A. Edison is celebrated for insightful thoughts on inspirational and life. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
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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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Discovery
Failure Is The Most Effective Technique To Optimize Strategic Planning, Implementation And Processes.
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Process
Barring Serious Accidents, If You Are Not Preoccupied With Worry And You Work Hard, You Can Look Forward To A Reasonably Lengthy Existence.... Its Not The Hard Work That Kills, Its The Worrying That Kills.
Motivational
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Books Will Soon Be Obsolete In The Schools... Our School System Will Be Completely Changed In The Next Ten Years.
Book
School
Years
Success Is The Result Of Hard Work.
Hard Work
Mathematics
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Sticking To It Is The Genius.
Children
Ignorance
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The Great Trouble Is That The Preachers Get The Children From Six To Seven Years Of Age And Then It Is Almost Impossible To Do Anything With Them.
Children
Years
Religion
Of The 200 Light Bulbs That Didn't Work, Every Failure Told Me Something That I Was Able To Incorporate Into The Next Attempt.
Light
Able
Next
The Entity That Gives Life And Motion To The Human Body Is Finer Still And Lies Infinitely Beyond The Reach Of Our Finest Scientific Instruments. When This Entity Deserts The Body, The Body Is Like A Ship Without A Rudder - Deserted, Motionless, Dead.
Lying
Giving
Soul
Results? Why, Man, I Have Gotten Lots Of Results! If I Find 10,000 Ways Something Won't Work, I Haven't Failed. I Am Not Discouraged, Because Every Wrong Attempt Discarded Is Often A Step Forward.
Motivational
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To Do Much Clear Thinking A Person Must Arrange For Regular Periods Of Solitude When They Can Concentrate And Indulge The Imagination Without Distraction.
Thinking
Imagination
Solitude
His Genius He Was Quite Content In One Brief Sentence To Define; Of Inspiration One Percent, Of Perspiration, Ninety Nine.
Positive
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I Never Perfected An Invention That I Did Not Think About In Terms Of The Service It Might Give Others... I Find Out What The World Needs, Then I Proceed To Invent.
Inspirational
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Fooling Around With Alternating Currents Is Just A Waste Of Time. Nobody Will Use It, Ever. It's Too Dangerous . . . It Could Kill A Man As Quick As A Bolt Of Lightning. Direct Current Is Safe.
Dream
Men
Safe
Let The Public Throw Bouquets To The Inventors And In Time We Will All Be Happy.
Bouquets
Inventor
The Dove Is My Emblem.
Technology
Dove
Emblems
I Am Much Less Interested In What Is Called God's Word Than In God's Deeds. All Bibles Are Man-made.
Men
Deeds
Made
We Have Merely Scratched The Surface Of The Store Of Knowledge Which Will Come To Us. I Believe That We Are Now, A-tremble On The Verge Of Vast Discoveries - Discoveries So Wondrously Important They Will Upset The Present Trend Of Human Thought And Start It Along Completely New Lines .
Motivational
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There Is Far More Opportunity Than There Is Ability.
Courage
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Until Man Duplicates A Blade Of Grass, Nature Can Laugh At His So-called Scientific Knowledge. Remedies From Chemicals Will Never Stand In Favor Compared With The Products Of Nature, The Living Cell Of The Plant, The Final Result Of The Rays Of The Sun, The Mother Of All Life.
Mother
Health
Men
It Is The Best Book Ever Written On The Subject. There Is Nothing Like It!
Book
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To Get A Great Idea, Come Up With Lots Of Them.
Creativity
Play
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There Is No Subsitute For Hard Work.
Hard Work
Hard
A Diamond Is A Piece Of Coal That Stuck To The Job
Jobs
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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.
Motivational
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Littles
Never Be Discouraged, Because Every Wrong Turn Attempt, When Left Behind You, Is Another Step Forward Taking You Closer To Your Goals.
Powerful
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It Is Very Different To Make A Practical System And To Introduce It. A Few Experiments In The Laboratory Would Prove The Practicability Of System Long Before It Could Be Brought Into General Use. You Can Take A Pipe And Put A Little Coal In It, Close It Up, Heat It And Light The Gas That Comes Out Of The Stem, But That Is Not Introducing Gas Lighting. I'll Bet That If It Were Discovered To-morrow In New York That Gas Could Be Made Out Of Coal It Would Be At Least Five Years Before The System Would Be In General Use.
New York
Science
Light
I'd Put My Money On The Sun And Solar Energy. What A Source Of Power! I Hope We Don't Have To Wait Until Oil And Coal Run Out Before We Tackle That.
Running
Nature
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The Three Things That Are Most Essential To Achievement Are Common Sense, Hard Work And Stick-to-it-iv-ness.
Motivational
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My Mother Was The Making Of Me. She Was So True And So Sure Of Me, I Felt That I Had Someone To Live For - Someone I Must Not Disappoint. The Memory Of My Mother Will Always Be A Blessing To Me.
Mom
Mother
Appreciation
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.
Atheist
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In Creating Technology For Ourselves We Created It For The World.
Wisdom
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Creating
It Is Very Beautiful Over There. (last Words)
Beautiful
Lasts
Last Words
Success Depends On How Many Experiments You Can Fit Into 24 Hours
Fit
Hours
Experiments
Waste Is Worse Than Loss. The Time Is Coming When Every Person Who Lays Claim To Ability Will Keep The Question Of Waste Before Him Constantly. The Scope Of Thrift Is Limitless.
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Each Time You Fail, You Have Eliminated Another Wrong Option.
Failure
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To Those Searching For Truth -- Not The Truth Of Dogma And Darkness But The Truth Brought By Reason, Search, Examination, And Inquiry, Discipline Is Required. 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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Darkness
First Be Sure A Thing Is Wanted Or Needed, Then Go Ahead.
Firsts
Needed
Wanted
The Radio Craze Will Die Out In Time.
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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.
Science
Boys
Cells
During All Those Years Of Experimentation And Research, I Never Once Made A Discovery. All My Work Was Deductive, And The Results I Achieved Were Those Of Invention, Pure And Simple. I Would Construct A Theory And Work On Its Lines Until I Found It Was Untenable. Then It Would Be Discarded At Once And Another Theory Evolved. This Was The Only Possible Way For Me To Work Out The Problem.
Simple
Discovery
Years
I Never Did Anything Worth Doing By Accident, Nor Did Any Of My Inventions Come Indirectly Through Accident, Except The Phonograph. No, When I Have, Fully Decided That A Result Is Worth Getting, I Go About It, And Make Trial After Trial, Until It Comes.
Trials
Invention
Anything Worth Doing
I Never Knew I Had An Inventive Talent Until Phrenology Told Me So. I Was A Stranger To Myself Until Then!
Phrenology
Talent
Stranger
I Have Not Failed 700 Times. I Have Not Failed Once. I Have Succeeded In Proving That Those 700 Ways Will Not Work. When I Have Eliminated The Ways That Will Not Work, I Will Find The Way That Will Work.
Inspirational
Failure
Way
Genius? Nothing! Sticking To It Is The Genius! Any Other Bright-minded Fellow Can Accomplish Just As Much If He Will Stick Like Hell And Remember Nothing That's Any Good Works By Itself. You've Got To Make The Damn Thing Work!...i Failed My Way To Success.
Genius
Way
Sticks
I Never Did Anything Worth Doing Entirely By Accident. . . Almost None Of My Inventions Came About Totally By Accident. They Were Achieved By Having Trained Myself To Endure And Tolerate Hard Work.
Motivational
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Every Failure Is A Lesson Learned About Your Strategy.
Lesson Learned
Lessons
Strategy
Seeming To Do Is Not Doing.
Seeming
The First Requisite For Success Is To Develop The Ability To Focus.
Focus
Firsts
Ability
It Is The People Who Constitute The Basis Of Government Credit. Why Then Cannot The People Have Benefit Of Their Own Gilt-edge Credit By Receiving Non-interest Bearing Currency-instead Of Bankers Receiving The Benefit Of The People's Credit In Interest-bearing Bonds. If The United States Government Will Adopt This Policy Of Increasing Its National Wealth Without Contributing To The Interest Collector-for The Whole National Debt Is Made Up On Interest Charges-then You Will See An Era Of Progress And Prosperity In This Country Such As Could Never Have Come Otherwise.
Country
Government
People
A Teacher Sent The Following Note Home With A Six-year-old Boy 'he Is Too Stupid To Learn.' That Boy Was Thomas A. Edison.
Teacher
Stupid
Home
The Trouble With Most People Is That They Quit Before They Start.
Thinking
People
Quitting
I Failed My Way To Success.
Inspirational
Motivational
Fear
I Never Pick Up An Item Without Thinking Of How I Might Improve It. I Never Perfected An Invention That I Did Not Think About In Terms Of The Service It Might Give Others. I Want To Save And Advance Human Life, Not Destroy It. I Am Proud Of The Fact That I Never Invented Weapons To Kill. The Dove Is My Emblem.
Technology
Thinking
Giving
A Failure Teaches You That Something Can't Be Done-that Way.
Failure
Done
Way
Not Only Will Atomic Power Be Released, But Someday We Will Harness The Rise And Fall Of The Tides And Imprison The Rays Of The Sun.
Fall
Tides
Sun
When You Have Exhausted All Possibilities, Remember This - You Haven't.
Inspirational
Karma
Running
Good Fortune Is What Happens When Opportunity Meets With Planning.
Opportunity
Optimism
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Anything That Won't Sell, I Don't Want To Invent. Its Sale Is Proof Of Utility, And Utility Is Success.
Inspirational
Positive
Business
No Such Thing As Bad Results
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I Think Work Is The World's Greatest Fun.
Fun
Thinking
World
I Have A Peculiar Theory About Radium, And I Believe It Is The Correct One. I Believe That There Is Some Mysterious Ray Pervading The Universe That Is Fluorescing To It. In Other Words, That All Its Energy Is Not Self-constructed But That There Is A Mysterious Something In The Atmosphere That Scientists Have Not Found That Is Drawing Out Those Infinitesimal Atoms And Distributing Them Forcefully And Indestructibly.
Believe
Science
Self
I Make More Mistakes Than Anyone Else I Know, And Sooner Or Later, I Patent Most Of Them.
Funny Inspirational
Mistake
Creativity
The Perils Of Overwork Are Slight Compared With The Dangers Of Inactivity.
Danger
Peril
Inactivity
Everything Comes To Those Who Hustle While They Wait.
Sports
Encouragement
Accomplishment
Somewhere Between The Ages Of Eleven And Fifteen, The Average Child Begins To Suffer From An Atrophy, The Paralysis Of Curiosity And The Suspension Of The Power To Observe. The Trouble, I Should Judge, To Lie With The Schools.
Children
Lying
School
The Three Great Essentials To Achieve Anything Worth While Are: Hard Work, Stick-to-itiveness, And Common Sense.
Success
Work
Common Sense
Absorb Ideas From Every Source.
Ideas
Source
When I Have Fully Decided That A Result Is Worth Getting I Go Ahead Of It And Make Trial After Trial Until It Comes.
Inspirational
Perseverance
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I Never Failed. It Just Didn't Work 10,000 Times.
I Know This World Is Ruled By Infinite Intelligence. Everything That Surrounds Us- Everything That Exists - Proves That There Are Infinite Laws Behind It. There Can Be No Denying This Fact. It Is Mathematical In Its Precision.
Spiritual
Infinite Intelligence
Law
To Have A Great Idea, Have A Lot Of Them.
Positive
Smart
Failure
I Would Rather Have One Man With Enthusiasm Working With Me Than Ten Who Are Complacent.
Men
Enthusiasm
Complacent
The Money One Gets For Selling One's Soul Is Always Spent In Deadening One's Conscience, So The Net Gain At The End Of A Lifetime Is No Greater Than If The Diabolic Bargain Had Not Been Struck.
Animal
Soul
Gains
It Is Absurd To Say That Our Country Can Issue $30,000,000 In Bonds And Not $30,000,000 In Currency. Both Are Promises To Pay; But One Promise Fattens The Usurer (banker), And The Other Helps The People. If The Currency Issued By The Government Were No Good, Then The Bonds Issued Would Be No Good Either. It Is A Terrible Situation When The Government, To Increase The National Wealth, Must Go Into Debt And Submit To Ruinous Interest Charges At The Hands Of Men Who Control The Fictitious Values Of Gold.
Country
Men
Issues
I Love Great Music And Art, But I Think 'cubist' Songs And Paintings Are Hideous.
Motivational
Song
Art
Nearly Every Man Who Develops An Idea Works It Up To The Point Where It Looks Impossible, And Then He Gets Discouraged. That's Not The Place To Become Discouraged.
Motivational
Positive
Perseverance
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.
Motivational
Mean
Use
Genius Is Not Inspired. Inspiration Is Perspiration.
Inspiration
Hard Work
Science
As A Cure For Worrying, Work Is Far Better Than Whiskey. I Always Found That, If I Began To Worry, The Best Thing I Could Do Was Focus Upon Doing Something Useful And Then Work Very Hard At It. Soon, I Would Forget What Was Troubling Me.
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I Have Been At Work For Some Time Building An Apparatus To See If It Is Possible For Personalities Which Have Left This Earth To Communicate With Us.
Personality
Earth
Building
Your Worth Consists In What You Are And Not In What You Have.
Happiness
Inspiring
Success
Radio Is Just A Fashion Contrivance That Will Soon Die Out. It Is Obvious That There Never Will Be Invented A Proper Receiver!
Fashion
Radio
Obvious
I Was At The Foot Of My Class.
Class
Feet
Genius Is 1 Percent Inspiration, 99 Percent Perspiration.
Inspirational
Educational
Genius
I Have Had A Lot Of Success With Failure
X-rays ... I Am Afraid Of Them. I Stopped Experimenting With Them Two Years Ago, When I Came Near To Losing My Eyesight And Dally, My Assistant Practically Lost The Use Of Both Of His Arms.
Science
Two
Years
Nothing That's Good Works By Itself, You've Got To Make The Damn Thing Work.
Good Work
Damn
Damn Things
The Biggest Failure Of Man Is That He Gives Up Before He Realizes How Close He Was To Success.
Sports
Giving Up
Men
The First 40 Hours Of Work Per Week Are For Survival. Everything After That Is For Success.
Survival
Firsts
Week
When Down In The Mouth, Remember Jonah. He Came Out All Right.
Mouths
Remember
Jonah
Youth Doesn't Take Advice.
Advice
Youth
The Secret Of Success Is Focus Of Purpose.
Focus
Secret
Purpose
What Is A College? An Institute Of Learning. What Is A Business? An Institute Of Learning. Life, Itself, Is An Institute Of Learning.
College
Never Stop Learning
Learning Life
Surprises And Reverses Can Serve As An Incentive For Great Accomplishment. There Are No Rules Here, We're Just Trying To Accomplish Something.
Motivational
Accomplishment
Trying
I Do Not Believe Any Type Of Religion Should Ever Be Introduced Into The Public Schools Of The United States.
Atheist
Believe
School
Whatever The Mind Of Man Creates, Should Be Controlled By Man's Character.
Motivational
Character
Men
Inspiration Can Be Found In A Pile Of Junk. Sometimes, You Can Put It Together With A Good Imagination And Invent Something.
Inspiration
Imagination
Together
If There Is A Better Solution... Find It.
Pride
Solutions
Ifs
There Is No Limit To Which A Man Will Not Go To Avoid Thinking.
Men
Thinking
Limits
Education Isn't Play--and It Can't Be Made To Look Like Play. It Is Hard, Hard Work. But It Can Be Made Interesting Work.
Education
Hard Work
Play
Show Me A Thoroughly Satisfied Man - And I Will Show You A Failure.
Success
Educational
Failure
The Real Measure Of Success Is The Number Of Experiments That Can Be Crowded Into 24 Hours.
Success
Real
Numbers
Before You Reject An Idea, Find At Least Five Good Things About It.
Ideas
Imagination
Good Things
Genius Defined: Of Inspiration 1% Percent, Of Perspiration, 99%.
Inspiration
Genius
Percent
There Is Much More Opportunity Than There Are People To See It.
Opportunity
People
Work While Others Are Wishing.
Motivational
Work
Stay Positive
What A Man's Mind Can Create, Man's Character Can Control.
Character
Angel
Men
I Am 67, But I'm Not Too Old To Make A Fresh Start.
Life
Motivational
Fresh Start
My Success Is Due More To My Ability To Work Continuously On One Thing Without Stopping Than To Any Other Single Quality.
Quality
Stopping
Ability
Fools Call Wise Men Fools. A Wise Man Never Calls Any Man A Fool.
Inspirational
Wise
Men
The Three Things That Are Most Essential To Achievement Are Common Sense, Hard Work And Stick-to-it-iv-ness... Unfortunately, Many Of Life's Failures Are Experienced By People Who Did Not Realize How Close They Were To Success When They Gave Up. I Have Far More Respect For The Person With A Single Idea Who Gets There Than For The Person With A Thousand Ideas Who Does Nothing.
Hard Work
Adventure
Ideas
I Am More Of A Sponge Than An Inventor. I Absorb Ideas From Every Source. I Take Half-matured Schemes For Mechanical Development And Make Them Practical. I Am A Sort Of A Middleman Between The Long-haired And Impractical Inventor And The Hard-headed Business Man Who Measures All Things In Terms Of Dollars And Cents. My Principal Business Is Giving Commercial Value To The Brilliant But Misdirected Ideas Of Others.
Men
Ideas
Long
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.
Men
Brain
Surroundings
Most Of My Ideas Belonged To Other People Who Never Bothered To Develop Them.
Ideas
People
Bothered
Because I Readily Absorb Ideas From Every Source - Frequently Starting Where The Last Person Left Off - I Never Pick Up An Item Without Thinking Of How I Might Improve It.
Motivational
Thinking
Ideas
Friendship Is The Heaven Of Life.
Heaven
We Haven't Failed. We Now Know A Thousand Things That Won't Work, So We Are Much Closer To Finding What Will.
Educational
Thousand
Findings
That Is To Say, Under The Old Way Any Time We Wish To Add To The National Wealth We Are Compelled To Add To The National Debt. Now, That Is What Henry Ford Wants To Prevent. He Thinks It Is Stupid, And So Do I, That For The Loan Of $30,000,000 Of Their Own Money The People Of The United States Should Be Compelled To Pay $66,000,000 - That Is What It Amounts To, With Interest.
Stupid
Thinking
People
From His Neck Down A Man Is Worth A Couple Of Dollars A Day, From His Neck Up He Is Worth Anything That His Brain Can Produce.
Motivational
Couple
Men
I Am So Deaf I Am Debarred From Hearing All The Time Articulation And Have To Depend On The Judgment Of Others.
Hearing
Judgment
Deaf
An Idea Is Something That Won't Work Unless You Do.
Ideas
I Do Not Believe In The God Of The Theologians; But That There Is A Supreme Intelligence I Do Not Doubt.
God
Believe
Doubt
I Start Where The Last Man Left Off.
Inspirational
Positive
Men
I Have Determined That There Is No Market For Talking Pictures
Inspiration
Talking
Determined
The World Owes Nothing To Any Man, But Every Man Owes Something To The World.
Inspirational
Men
World
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.
Ambition
Has Beens
Ifs
Until Man Duplicates A Blade Of Grass, Nature Can Laugh At His So Called Scientific Knowledge.
Motivational
Nature
Laughter
The Best Thinking Has Been Done In Solitude. The Worst Has Been Done In Turmoil.
Thinking
Solitude
Innovation
I Am Quite Correctly Described As 'more Of A Sponge Than An Inventor....'
Motivational
Sponges
Inventor
I Have Not Failed. I've Just Found 10,000 Ways That Won't Work.
Inspirational
Funny
Motivational
I Am Proud Of The Fact That I Never Invented Weapons To Kill.
Atheism
Proud
Weapons
Invention Is 10% Inspiration And 90% Perspiration.
Inspiration
Design
Invention
It Is A Terrible Situation When The Government, To Insure The National Wealth, Must Go In Debt And Submit To Ruinous Interest Charges, At The Hands Of Men, Who Control The Fictitious Value Of Gold. Interest Is The Invention Of Satan.
Men
Hands
Gold
The Strength Of The Constitution, Lies In The Will Of The People To Defend It.
Lying
People
Liberty
There Cannot Be Overproduction Of Anything Which Men And Women Want. And Their Wants Are Unlimited, Except By The Size Of Their Stomachs.
Men
Want
Size
I Start Where The Last Man Left Off. What The Mind Of Man Can Conceive And Believe, The Mind Of A Man Can Achieve.
Believe
Men
Mind
There Is Great Value In Disaster. All Our Mistakes Are Burned Up. Thank God We Can Start A New.
Mistake
Thank God
Disaster
Ideas Without Execution Are Hallucinations.
Ideas
Hallucinations
Execution
For Faith, As Well Intentioned As It May Be, Must Be Built On Facts, Not Fiction - Faith In Fiction Is A Damnable False Hope.
Religious
Fiction
May
I Find Out What The World Needs. Then I Go Ahead And Try To Invent It
Inspirational
Science
Trying
The Reason A Lot Of People Do Not Recognize Opportunity Is Because It Usually Goes Around Wearing Overalls Looking Like Hard Work.
Success
Hard Work
Opportunity
Keep On The Lookout For Novel Ideas That Others Have Used Successfully. Your Idea Has To Be Original Only In Its Adaptation To The Problem You're Working On.
Ideas
Problem
Adaptation
It Is Remarkable To What Lengths People Will Go To Avoid Thought.
People
Length
Remarkable
I Am Afraid Of Radium And Polonium ... I Don't Want To Monkey With Them.
Science
Want
Monkeys
Incurably Religious, That Is The Best Way To Describe The Mental Condition Of So Many People.
Religious
People
Atheism
A Genius Is A Talented Person Who Does His Homework.
Ballet
Doe
Genius
Success Is The Product Of The Severest Kind Of Mental And Physical Application.
Kind
Application
Products
I Never Did A Day's Work In My Life, It Was All Fun.
Inspirational
Life
Fun
So Far As The Religion Of The Day Is Concerned, It Is A Damned Fake ... Religion Is All Bunk.
Atheist
If There Is A God
Fake
To My Mind The Old Masters Are Not Art; Their Value Is In Their Scarcity.
Art
Philosophy
History
If I Could Solve All The Problems Myself, I Would.
Teamwork
Team Work
Collaboration
I Know Of Over 3,000 Ways [that] A Light Bulb Does Not Work.
Light
Doe
Way
We Are Striking It Big In The Electric Light, Better Than My Vivid Imagination First Conceived. Where This Thing Is Going To Stop Lord Only Knows.
Light
Vivid Imagination
Firsts
They Were Not Failures, They Were New Found Ways Of What Does Not Work "i Can Accept Failure,everyonefails At Something. But I Can't Accept Not Trying
Trying
Doe
Way
I'll Try Anything...i'll Even Try Limburger Cheese!
Trying
Cheese
Success Is 90% Perspiration And 10% Inspiration!
Business
Inspiration
Perspiration
I've Realized That Most Of My Best Ideas Have Followed A Good Night's Sleep.
Good Night
Sleep
Night
No, I Haven't Failed Thousands Of Times. On The Contrary, I Have Successfully Eliminated Thousands Of Ideas That Do Not Work!
Inspirational
Ideas
Contrary
The United States, And Other Advanced Nations, Will Someday Be Able To Produce Instruments Of Death So Terrible The World Will Be In Abject Terror Of Itself And Its Ability To End Civilization.... Such War-making Weapons Should Be Developed - But Only For Purposes Of Discovery And Experimentation
Motivational
War
Discovery
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.
Twenties
Four
Facts
Nature Is What We Know. We Do Not Know The Gods Of Religions. And Nature Is Not Kind, Or Merciful, Or Loving. If God Made Me - The Fabled God Of The Three Qualities Of Which I Spoke: Mercy, Kindness, Love - He Also Made The Fish I Catch And Eat. And Where Do His Mercy, Kindness, And Love For That Fish Come In? No; Nature Made Us - Nature Did It All - Not The Gods Of The Religions.
Kindness
Quality
And Love
I Know This World Is Ruled By Infinite Intelligence. It Required Infinite Intelligence To Create It And It Requires Infinite Intelligence To Keep It On Its Course ... It Is Mathematical In Its Precision.
God
Infinite Intelligence
World
As Danand Ian Over At The Lifestyle Business Podcast Say: Rush To Failure.
Lifestyle
My Mother Was The Making Of Me.
Funny
Mother
Humorous
I Did Not Fail Two Thousand Times. I Merely Found Two Thousand Ways Not To Make A Lightbulb.
Two
Way
Failing
Of All My Inventions, I Liked The Phonograph Best
Great Inventions
Invention
Phonograph
When There's No Experimenting There's No Progress. Stop Experimenting And You Go Backward. If Anything Goes Wrong, Experiment Until You Get To The Very Bottom Of The Trouble.
Progress
Anything Goes
Trouble
Most Of The Exercise I Get Is From Standing And Walking Around Laboratory Tables All Day. I Derive More Benefit And Entertainment From This Than Some Of My Friends And Competitors Get From Playing Games Like Golf.
Motivational
Exercise
Golf
To Monsieur Eiffel The Engineer, The Brave Builder Of So Gigantic And Original A Specimen Of Modern Engineering From One Who Has The Greatest Respect And Admiration For All Engineers Including The Great Engineer The Bon Dieu.
Science
Engineering
Brave
What You Are Will Show In What You Do.
Motivation
Action
Human Nature
Baseball Is The Greatest Of American Games. Some Say Football, But It Is My Firm Belief, And It Shall Always Be, That Baseball Has No Superior.
Baseball
Football
Games
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.
Inspirational
Motivational
Real
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.
Country
Money
Differences
The Doctor Of The Future Will No Longer Treat The Human Frame With Drugs, But Rather Will Cure And Prevent Disease With Nutrition.
Motivational
Fitness
Health
The Doctor Of The Future Will Give No Medicine, But Will Involve The Patient In The Proper Use Of Food, Fresh Air And Exercise
Exercise
Doctors
Air
We Tried Some Experiments In Mind Reading Which Were Not Very Successful. Think Mind Reading Contrary To Common Sense, Wise Provision Of The Bon Dieu That We Cannot Read Each Others Minds, Twould Stop Civilization And Everybody Would Take To The Woods. In Fifty Or Hundred Thousand Centuries When Mankind Have Become Perfect By Evolution Then Perhaps This Sense Could Be Developed With Safety To The State.
Wise
Reading
Successful
I Am A Vegetarian As Well As A Passionate Anti-alcoholic, Because I Can Thus Make Better Use Of My Brain.
Animal
Brain
Passionate
I Think That Ingersoll Had All The Attributes Of A Perfect Man, And, In My Opinion, No Finer Personality Ever Existed. Judging From The Past, I Cannot Help Thinking That The Intention Of The Supreme Intelligence That Rules The World Is To Ultimately Make Such A Type Of Man Universal.
Past
Men
Thinking
There's A Way To Do It Better - Find It.
Positive
Business
Creativity
I Told [kruesi] I Was Going To Record Talking, And Then Have The Machine Talk Back. He Thought It Absurd. However, It Was Finished, The Foil Was Put On; I Then Shouted "mary Had A Little Lamb," Etc. I Adjusted The Reproducer, And The Machine Reproduced It Perfectly. On First Words Spoken On A Phonograph.
Science
Talking
Machines
Everything Comes To Him Who Hustles While He Waits.
Inspirational
Motivational
Positive
It Is Apparent To Me That The Possibilities Of The Aeroplane, Which Two Or Three Years Ago Were Thought To Hold The Solution To The [flying Machine] Problem, Have Been Exhausted, And That We Must Turn Elsewhere.
Years
Two
Flying
Success Is Based On Imagination Plus Ambition And The Will To Work.
Ambition
Imagination
Plus
We Will Make Electricity So Cheap That Only The Rich Will Burn Candles.
Inspirational
Rich
Electricity
The Greatest Invention In The World Is The Mind Of A Child.
Children
Imagination
Innovation
I Have Never Seen The Slightest Scientific Proof Of The Religious Ideas Of Heaven And Hell, Of Future Life For Individuals, Or Of A Personal God.
Religious
Atheist
If There Is A God
When I Have Eliminated The Ways That Will Not Work, I Will Find The Way That Will Work.
Way
Martial Arts
I Never Pick Up An Item Without Thinking Of How I Might Improve It.
Technology
Thinking
Might
Five Percent Of The People Think; Ten Percent Of The People Think They Think; And The Other Eighty-five Percent Would Rather Die Than Think.
Thinking
People
Willful Ignorance
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.
Motivational
Meaningful
Thinking
A Good Intention, With A Bad Approach, Often Leads To A Poor Result.
Good Intentions
Poor
Results
There Will One Day Spring From The Brain Of Science A Machine Or Force So Fearful In Its Potentialities, So Absolutely Terrifying, That Even Man, The Fighter, Who Will Dare Torture And Death In Order To Inflict Torture And Death, Will Be Appalled, And So Abandon War Forever.
Peace
Fear
Spring
My Main Purpose In Life Is To Make Enough Money To Create Ever More Inventions…. The Dove Is My Emblem…. I Want To Save And Advance Human Life, Not Destroy It…. I Am Proud Of The Fact That I Have Never Invented Weapons To Kill….
Inspirational
Purpose
Want
We Are Like Tenant Farmers Chopping Down The Fence Around Our House For Fuel When We Should Be Using Nature's Inexhaustible Sources Of Energy - Sun, Wind And Tide. ... I'd Put My Money On The Sun And Solar Energy. What A Source Of Power! I Hope We Don't Have To Wait Until Oil And Coal Run Out Before We Tackle That.
Running
Nature
Wind
I Have Not Failed. I Have Successfully Discovered 1200 Ideas That Don't Work.
Ideas
Being Positive
The Beauty Of A Great Idea Lies In The Art Of Using It.
Art
Lying
Ideas
All Bibles Are Man-made.
Bible
Men
Religion
Everyone Steals In Commerce And Industry. I've Stolen A Lot, Myself. But I Know How To Steal! They Don't Know How To Steal!
Stealing
Stolen
Commerce
There Is Always A Better Way.
Motivational
Self Reliance
Way
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