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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.
-Thomas A. Edison
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I Never Did Anything

Thomas A. Edison
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.
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Topic
Trials
Invention
Anything Worth Doing
More From Thomas A. Edison
Invention Is 10% Inspiration And 90% Perspiration.
Inspiration
Design
Invention
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
Accomplishing Something Provides The Only Real Satisfaction In Life.
Real
Satisfaction In Life
Satisfaction
People Who Will Not Turn A Shovel Full Of Dirt On The Project (muscle Shoals Dam) Nor Contribute A Pound Of Material, Will Collect More Money From The United States Than Will The People Who Supply All The Material And Do All The Work. This Is The Terrible Thing About Interest.
People
United States
Dams
Genius Is One Percent Inspiration And Ninety-nine Percent Perspiration. As A Result, A Genius Is Often A Talented Person Who Has Simply Done All Of His Homework.
Inspirational
Motivational
Ninety Nine
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 Speak Without Exaggeration When I Say That I Have Constructed 3,000 Different Theories In Connection With The Electric Light, Each One Of Them Reasonable And Apparently Likely To Be True. Yet Only In Two Cases Did My Experiments Prove The Truth Of My Theory. My Chief Difficulty Was In Constructing The Carbon Filament... Every Quarter Of The Globe Was Ransacked By My Agents, And All Sorts Of The Queerest Materials Used, Until Finally The Shred Of Bamboo, Now Utilized By Us, Was Settled Upon.
Light
Two
Connections
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
I Never Failed. It Just Didn't Work 10,000 Times.
Discontent Is The First Necessity Of Progress.
Inspirational
Motivational
Happiness
Religion Is All Bunk.
Atheist
Religion
Atheism
My Mother Was The Making Of Me.
Funny
Mother
Humorous
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
A Man’s Best Friend Is A Good Wife.
Inspirational
Men
Wife
The Endeavor To Change Universal Power By Selfish Supplication I Do Not Believe In.
Selfish
Believe
Religion
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
Maturity Is Often More Absurd Than Youth And Very Frequently Is Most Unjust To Youth.
Time
Maturity
Insightful
To Me, The Idea And Expectation That The Day Is Slowly And Surely Coming When We Will Be Able To Honestly Say We Are Our Brother's Keeper And Not His Oppressor Is Very Beautiful .
Motivational
Beautiful
Brother
People Are Not Remembered By How Few Times They Fail, But By How Often They Succeed. Every Wrong Step Is Another Step Forward
People
Succeed
Steps
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
I Am 67, But I'm Not Too Old To Make A Fresh Start.
Life
Motivational
Fresh Start
I Think Work Is The World's Greatest Fun.
Fun
Thinking
World
The First 40 Hours Of Work Per Week Are For Survival. Everything After That Is For Success.
Survival
Firsts
Week
There Is Always A Better Way.
Motivational
Self Reliance
Way
It Has Been Just So In All My Inventions. The First Step Is An Intuition-and Comes With A Burst, Then Difficulties Arise. This Thing That Gives Out And Then That-"bugs"as Such Little Faults And Difficulties Are Called Show Themselves And Months Of Anxious Watching, Study And Labor Are Requisite Before Commercial Success-or Failure-is Certainly Reached.
Success
Science
Giving
This Problem, Once Solved, Will Be Simple.
Simple
Problem
I Try Not To Invent Things That People Don't Need.
People
Trying
Needs
I Never Did Anything By Accident, Nor Did Any Of My Inventions Come By Accident; They Came By Work.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
I Have Not Failed. I Have Successfully Discovered 1200 Ideas That Don't Work.
Ideas
Being Positive
Most Of My Ideas Belonged To Other People Who Never Bothered To Develop Them.
Ideas
People
Bothered
I Was Always Afraid Of Things That Worked The First Time. Long Experience Proved That There Were Great Drawbacks Found Generally Before They Could Be Got Commercial; But Here Was Something There Was No Doubt Of.
Success
Science
Long
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
It Is Astonishing What An Effort It Seems To Be For Many People To Put Their Brains Definitely And Systematically To Work.
Effectiveness
People
Effort
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
The Bible Of Nature Is The Best Damn Bible In The World. Its Laws Are Perfect And Grand, And All The Prayers In The World Can't Change Them. There Is Intelligence And Law In This World, And There May Be Supreme Intelligence And Law, But So Far As The Religion Of The Day Is Concerned, It Is All A Damned Fake.
Prayer
Law
Perfect
Genius Defined: Of Inspiration 1% Percent, Of Perspiration, 99%.
Inspiration
Genius
Percent
Even Though I Am Nearly Deaf, I Seem To Be Gifted With A Kind Of Inner Hearing Which Enables Me To Detect Sounds And Noises Which The Ordinary Person Does Not Hear.
Motivational
Sound
Ordinary
I Will Not Say I Failed 1000 Times, I Will Say That I Discovered There Are 1000 Ways That Can Cause Failure
Way
Causes
Time Is Really The Only Capital That Any Human Being Has, And The Only Thing He Can't Afford To Lose.
Time
Humans
Human Beings
His Genius He Was Quite Content In One Brief Sentence To Define; Of Inspiration One Percent, Of Perspiration, Ninety Nine.
Positive
Inspiration
Ninety Nine
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
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 Never Quit Until I Get What I Want.
Want
Never Quit
Quitting
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
Hard Work
Worry
Nothing That's Good Works By Itself, You've Got To Make The Damn Thing Work.
Good Work
Damn
Damn Things
Your Worth Consists In What You Are And Not In What You Have.
Happiness
Inspiring
Success
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
Names
Ideas
Trying
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
Believe
Discovery
I Believe That The Motion Picture Is Destined To Revolutionize Our Educational System And That In A Few Years It Will Supplant Largely, If Not Entirely, The Use Of Textbooks.
Educational
Believe
Years
Many Of Life's Failures Are People Who Did Not Realize How Close They Were To Success When They Gave Up.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
I Have Friends In Overalls Whose Friendship I Would Not Swap For The Favor Of The Kings Of The World.
Inspirational
Friendship
Positive
Let The Public Throw Bouquets To The Inventors And In Time We Will All Be Happy.
Bouquets
Inventor
I Know Of Over 3,000 Ways [that] A Light Bulb Does Not Work.
Light
Doe
Way
I Am Quite Correctly Described As 'more Of A Sponge Than An Inventor....'
Motivational
Sponges
Inventor
When You Have Exhausted All Possibilities, Remember This - You Haven't.
Inspirational
Karma
Running
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
Genius Is 1 Percent Inspiration, 99 Percent Perspiration.
Inspirational
Educational
Genius
The Doctor Of The Future Will Give No Medication, But Will Interest His Patients In The Care Of The Human Frame, Diet And In The Cause And Prevention Of Disease. ~
Life
Motivational
Fitness
I Find My Greatest Pleasure, And So My Reward, In The Work That Precedes What The World Calls Success.
Funny
Success
Motivation
There Is No Subsitute For Hard Work.
Hard Work
Hard
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
Suicidal
Men
I Never Once Made A Discovery ... I Speak Without Exaggeration That I Have Constructed Three Thousand Different Theories In Connection With The Electric Light ... Yet In Only Two Cases Did My Experiments Prove The Truth Of My Theory.
Light
Discovery
Two
The Only Thing I Use My Body For Is To Carry My Brain Around.
Humor
Brain
Use
The Strength Of The Constitution, Lies In The Will Of The People To Defend It.
Lying
People
Liberty
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
Everything Comes To Him Who Hustles While He Waits.
Inspirational
Motivational
Positive
When I Have Eliminated The Ways That Will Not Work, I Will Find The Way That Will Work.
Way
Martial Arts
The Roots Of Tobacco Plants Must Go Clear Through To Hell. Satan's Principal Agent Dyspepsia Must Have Charge Of This Branch Of The Vegetable Kingdom.
Vegetables
Roots
Agents
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
There's A Way To Do It Better - Find It.
Positive
Business
Creativity
Never Be Discouraged, Because Every Wrong Turn Attempt, When Left Behind You, Is Another Step Forward Taking You Closer To Your Goals.
Powerful
Goal
Behind You
Nineteen Hundred And Three Will Bring Great Advances In Surgery, In The Study Of Bacteria, In The Knowledge Of The Cause And Prevention Of Disease. Medicine Is Played Out. Every New Discovery Of Bacteria Shows Us All The More Convincingly That We Have Been Wrong And That The Million Tons Of Stuff We Have Taken Was All Useless.
Taken
Discovery
Medicine
To Get A Great Idea, Come Up With Lots Of Them.
Creativity
Play
Ideas
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
Hydrogen Fuel
I Would Rather Have One Man With Enthusiasm Working With Me Than Ten Who Are Complacent.
Men
Enthusiasm
Complacent
As Danand Ian Over At The Lifestyle Business Podcast Say: Rush To Failure.
Lifestyle
There Is Great Value In Disaster. All Our Mistakes Are Burned Up. Thank God We Can Start A New.
Mistake
Thank God
Disaster
I Have Determined That There Is No Market For Talking Pictures
Inspiration
Talking
Determined
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
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
Work While Others Are Wishing.
Motivational
Work
Stay Positive
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
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
The Chief Function Of The Body Is To Carry The Brain Around.
Brain
Mind
Body
I Find Out What The World Needs. Then I Go Ahead And Try To Invent It
Inspirational
Science
Trying
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
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
Many A Person Who Could Not Comprehend Rousseau, And Would Be Puzzled By Montesquieu, Could Understand Paine As An Open Book. He Wrote With A Clarity, A Sharpness Of Outline And Exactness Of Speech That Even A Schoolboy Should Be Able To Grasp.
Book
Would Be
Speech
Until Man Duplicates A Blade Of Grass, Nature Can Laugh At His So Called Scientific Knowledge.
Motivational
Nature
Laughter
There Is Far More Danger In Public Than In Private Monopoly, For When Government Goes Into Business It Can Always Shift Its Losses To The Taxpayers. Government Never Makes Ends Meetand That Is The First Requisite Of Business.
Business
Loss
Government
You Can't Realize Your Dreams Unless You Have One To Begin With.
Dream
Goal
Realizing
If There Is A Better Solution... Find It.
Pride
Solutions
Ifs
Fools Call Wise Men Fools. A Wise Man Never Calls Any Man A Fool.
Inspirational
Wise
Men
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
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
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
An Average American Loves His Family. If He Has Any Love Left Over For Some Other Person, He Generally Selects Mark Twain.
Average
Mark
Persons
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
Great Ideas Originate In The Muscles.
Life
Motivation
Work
A Good Idea Is Never Lost. Even Though Its Originator Or Possessor May Die, It Will Someday Be Reborn In The Mind Of Another.
Motivational
Ideas
Mind
Mr. Edison Worked Endlessly On A Problem, Using The Method Of Elimination. If A Person Asked Him If He Were Discouraged Because So Many Attempts Proved Unavailing, He Would Say, "no, I Am Not Discouraged, Because Every Wrong Attempt Discarded Is Another Step Forward.".
Steps
Problem
Discouraged
Success Is The Result Of Hard Work.
Hard Work
Mathematics
Results
I Am Long On Ideas, But Short On Time. I Expect To Live To Be Only About A Hundred.
Inspirational
Life
Birthday
I Believe That The Science Of Chemistry Alone Almost Proves The Existence Of An Intelligent Creator.
Inspirational
Motivational
Believe
I Have Better Use For My Brain Than To Poison It With Alcohol. To Put Alcohol In The Human Brain Is Like Putting Sand In The Bearings Of An Engine.
Alcohol
Brain
Poison
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
Incurably Religious, That Is The Best Way To Describe The Mental Condition Of So Many People.
Religious
People
Atheism
First, Study The Present Construction. Second, Ask For All Past Experiences ...study And Read Everything You Can On The Subject.
Past
Firsts
Study
Direct Thought Is Not An Attribute Of Feminity. In This, Women Are Now Centuries Behind Man.
Men
Century
Attributes
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
The Perils Of Overwork Are Slight Compared With The Dangers Of Inactivity.
Danger
Peril
Inactivity
I Am A Vegetarian As Well As A Passionate Anti-alcoholic, Because I Can Thus Make Better Use Of My Brain.
Animal
Brain
Passionate
Two Per Cent. Is Genius, And Ninety-eight Per Cent. Is Hard Work.
Hard Work
Science
Eight
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 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
Good Fortune Is What Happens When Opportunity Meets With Planning.
Opportunity
Optimism
Luck
In Creating Technology For Ourselves We Created It For The World.
Wisdom
Technology
Creating
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
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."
Work
Men
Discovery
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
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
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
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
The Value Of A Good Idea Is In Using It.
Ideas
Good Ideas
Values
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 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
The Value Of An Idea Lies In The Using Of It.
Business
Good Life
Lying
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
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
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
Absorb Ideas From Every Source.
Ideas
Source
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
Thinking
Littles
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
Just Because Something Doesn't Do What You Planned It To Do Doesn't Mean It's Useless.
Positive
Mean Girls
Funny Inspirational
Failure Is The Most Effective Technique To Optimize Strategic Planning, Implementation And Processes.
Technique
Planning
Process
The Best Thinking Has Been Done In Solitude. The Worst Has Been Done In Turmoil.
Thinking
Solitude
Innovation
Large Portions Of Life's Disappointments Are Individuals Who Did Not Understand That They Were So Near Achievement When They Surrendered.
Disappointment
Achievement
Individual
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.
Pain
Thinking
Brain
Invention Is 1% Inspiration And 99% Perspiration
Inspiration
Invention
Perspiration
What You Are Will Show In What You Do.
Motivation
Action
Human Nature
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.
Faith
Discipline
Darkness
Anything That Won't Sell, I Don't Want To Invent. Its Sale Is Proof Of Utility, And Utility Is Success.
Inspirational
Positive
Business
My Main Purpose In Life Is To Make Money So I Can Afford To Go On Creating More Inventions.
Motivational
Creating
Purpose
Genius Is 99% Perspiration And 1% Inspiration.
Inspiration
Genius
Perspiration
The Man Who Doesn’t Make Up His Mind To Cultivate The Habit Of Thinking Misses The Greatest Pleasure In Life.
Inspirational
Men
Thinking
Success Is Based On Imagination Plus Ambition And The Will To Work.
Ambition
Imagination
Plus
Today, I Am Wondering What Would Have Happened To Me By Now, If, Fifty Years Ago, Some Fluent Talker Had Converted Me To The Theory Of The Eight-hour Day And Convinced Me That It Was Not Fair To My Fellow-workers To Put Forth My Best Efforts In My Work? I Am Glad That The Eight-hour Day Had Not Been Invented When I Was A Young Man. If My Life Had Been Made Up Of Eight-hour Days, I Don't Believe I Could Have Accomplished A Great Deal.
Life
Country
Work
I Never Failed Once. It Just Happened To Be A 2000-step Process.
Inspirational
Patience
Perseverance
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.
Inspirational
Motivational
Single
Oh These Mathematicians Make Me Tired! When You Ask Them To Work Out A Sum They Take A Piece Of Paper, Cover It With Rows Of A's, B's, And X's And Y's ... Scatter A Mess Of Flyspecks Over Them, And Then Give You An Answer That's All Wrong!
Tired
Science
Giving
Nobody Knows Whether Our Personalities Pass On To Another Existence Or Sphere, But If We Can Evolve An Instrument So Delicate To Be Manipulated By Our Personality As It Survives In The Next Life Such An Instrument Ought To Record Something.
Personality
Records
Next
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
I Did Not Fail Two Thousand Times. I Merely Found Two Thousand Ways Not To Make A Lightbulb.
Two
Way
Failing
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
Non-violence Leads To The Highest Ethics, Which Is The Goal Of All Evolution. Until We Stop Harming All Other Living Beings, We Are Still Savages.
Life
Peace
Honesty
There Is Time For Everything.
Motivational
Time
Peace
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
My Mind Is Incapable Of Conceiving Such A Thing As A Soul. I May Be In Error, And Man May Have A Soul; But I Simply Do Not Believe It.
Believe
Men
Errors
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
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.
Men
People
Desire
Continued Innovation Is The Best Way To Beat The Competition.
Competition
Innovation
Way
I Failed My Way To Success.
Inspirational
Motivational
Fear
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
If I Could Solve All The Problems Myself, I Would.
Teamwork
Team Work
Collaboration
To My Mind The Old Masters Are Not Art; Their Value Is In Their Scarcity.
Art
Philosophy
History
The World Owes Nothing To Any Man, But Every Man Owes Something To The World.
Inspirational
Men
World
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
Life Lesson
There Is Far More Opportunity Than There Is Ability.
Courage
Opportunity
Ability
To Have A Great Idea, Have A Lot Of Them.
Positive
Smart
Failure
Youth Doesn't Take Advice.
Advice
Youth
I Make More Mistakes Than Anyone Else I Know, And Sooner Or Later, I Patent Most Of Them.
Funny Inspirational
Mistake
Creativity
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
Every Wrong Attempt Discarded Is Another Step Forward
Perseverance
Determination
Failure
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
A Good Intention, With A Bad Approach, Often Leads To A Poor Result.
Good Intentions
Poor
Results
Nature Is Truly Wonderful. Only Man Is Truly Foul.
Men
Wonderful
Foul
My Principal Business Is Giving Commercial Value To The Brilliant - But Misdirected - Ideas Of Others.
Motivational
Ideas
Giving
Our Greatest Weakness Lies In Giving Up. The Most Certain Way To Succeed Is Always To Try Just One More Time.
Inspirational
Motivational
Positive
The Real Measure Of Success Is The Number Of Experiments That Can Be Crowded Into 24 Hours.
Success
Real
Numbers
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
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
Hard Work
Discipline
I Owe My Success To The Fact That I Never Had A Clock In My Workroom.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
The Inventor Tries To Meet The Demand Of A Crazy Civilization.
Crazy
Civilization
Trying
I Didn't Fail 1000 Times. The Light Bulb Was An Invention With 1000 Steps.
Light
Steps
Self Discipline
Every Failure Is A Lesson Learned About Your Strategy.
Lesson Learned
Lessons
Strategy
After We Had Conducted Thousands Of Experiments On A Certain Project Without Solving The Problem, One Of My Associates, After We Had Conducted The Crowning Experiment And It Had Proved A Failure, Expressed Discouragement And Disgust Over Our Having Failed To Find Out Anything. I Cheerily Assured Him That We Had Learned Something. For We Had Learned For A Certainty That The Thing Couldnt Be Done That Way, And That We Would Have To Try Some Other Way.
Trying
Done
Way
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
Ideas Without Execution Are Hallucinations.
Ideas
Hallucinations
Execution
Interest Is The Invention Of Satan.
Satan
Invention
Interest
I Believe In The Existence Of A Supreme Intelligence Pervading The Universe.
Believe
Existence
Supreme
Never Go To Sleep Without A Request To Your Subconscious.
Sleep
Mind
Subconscious
Seeming To Do Is Not Doing.
Seeming
No Such Thing As Bad Results
Results
Unfortunately, There Seems To Be Far More Opportunity Out There Than Ability.... We Should Remember That Good Fortune Often Happens When Opportunity Meets With Preparation.
Inspirational
Motivational
Success
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
Be Courageous! Have Faith! Go Forward.
Motivational
Courage
Have Faith
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.
Believe
Hard Work
People
The Trouble With Most People Is That They Quit Before They Start.
Thinking
People
Quitting
I Was At The Foot Of My Class.
Class
Feet
Be Brave As Your Fathers Before You. Have Faith And Go Forward.
Father
Persistence
Brave
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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