Famous Quotes by Thomas Edison

 

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"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

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“There are no rules here -- we're trying to accomplish something.”

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“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

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"There's a better way to do it - Find it."

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“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

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“We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

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“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”

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“If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

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“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.”

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“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

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“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”

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“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.”

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“Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.”

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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.”

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“A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”

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“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.”

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“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. I wish I had more years left.”

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“I never did a day’s work in my life, it was all fun.”

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"Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you failure."

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"Nothing is impossible. We merely don't know how to do it yet."

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"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."

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"Science works slowly, even though it discovers the marvelous, the unlooked-for."

“My desire is to do everything within my power to free people from drudgery and create the largest measure of happiness and prosperity.” 

“I find out what the world needs. Then I go ahead and try to invent it.” 

“Personally, I enjoy working about 18 hours a day. Besides the short catnaps I take each day, I average about four to five hours of sleep per night."

"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." 

“I always invented to obtain money to go on inventing.” 

“What you are will show in what you do.” 

"Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success." 

“I have more respect for the fellow with a single idea who gets there than for the fellow with a thousand ideas who does nothing.” 

"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world." 

“There is no substitute for hard work.” 

“When I have finally decided that a result is worth getting, I go ahead on it and make trial after trial until it comes.” 

“The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do.” 

“All progress, all success, springs from thinking.” 

"The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil." 

“Great ideas originate in the muscles.” 

“To have a great idea, have a lot of them.” 

“Fools call wise men fools. A wise man never calls any man a fool.” 

“Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge....” 

“The world owes nothing to any man, but every man owes something to the world.” 

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