"American Inventor"
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“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.
“I find out what the world needs. Then I go ahead and try to invent it” |
“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.”
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
“There's a way to do it better - find it.”
“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.”
“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”
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
“There's a way to do it better - find it.”
“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.”
“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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I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.”
“Nearly every person who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.” “All bibles are man-made.” “The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.” “There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking.” “People who will not turn a shovel full of dirt on the project 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 ...But here is the point: 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. If the currency issued by the People were no good, then the bonds would be no good, either. 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.” “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” “Nature is truly wonderful. Only man is truly foul.” “It's very beautiful over there.” “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” “Opportunity is often missed because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” “So far as the religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake ... Religion is all bunk.” “It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.” |
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” “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.” “We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work” “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” “If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.” “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.” “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” “Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.” “There are no rules here -- we're trying to accomplish something.” “Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.” “I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” “I never did a day's work in my life, it was all fun.” “I told [John 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. “A good intention, with a bad approach, often leads to a poor result.” |