- Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
- This is presented as a statement of 1877, as quoted in From Telegraph to Light Bulb with Thomas Edison (2007) by Deborah Hedstrom, p. 22
- 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. … 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.
- On his years of research in developing the electric light bulb, as quoted in “Talks with Edison” by George Parsons Lathrop in Harpers magazine, Vol. 80 (February 1890), p. 425
- The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.
- This has been reprinted many times with slight variations on the wording; it is part of a much larger quote directly from Edison published in 1903:
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- 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.
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.
They may even discover the germ of old age. I don’t predict it, but it might be by the sacrifice of animal life human life could be prolonged.
Surgery, diet, antiseptics — these three are the vital things of the future in preserving the health of humanity. There were never so many able, active minds at work on the problems of diseases as now, and all their discoveries are tending to the simple truth — that you can’t improve on nature.- As quoted in “Wizard Edison” in The Newark Advocate (2 January 1903), p. 1 according to reasearch by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson at snopes.com
- 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.
- Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
- Spoken statement (c. 1903); published in Harper’s Monthly (September 1932)
- Variants:
- None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
- Statement in a press conference (1929), as quoted in Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James D. Newton, p. 24.
- Variant forms without early citation: “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a ‘genius’ is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”
“Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
- Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
- As quoted in Thomas Alva Edison : Sixty Years of an Inventor’s Life (1908) by Francis Arthur Jones, p. 14
- I am much less interested in what is called God’s word than in God’s deeds. All bibles are man-made.
- The Atlantic Monthly Vol. 128, No. 4 (October 1921), p. 520
- 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. What a soul may be is beyond my understanding.
- “Do We Live Again?” an interview with Edison, as quoted in Mr. Edison’s New Argument from Design” in The Illustrated London News (3 May 1924)
- We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Natures 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.
- In conversation with Henry Ford and w:Harvey Firestone (1931); as quoted in Uncommon Friends : Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James Newton, p. 31
- There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.
- As quoted in New Outlook (1935) by Alfred Emanuel Smith, p. 617
- I believe in the existence of a Supreme Intelligence pervading the Universe.
- As quoted in Thomas A. Edison, Benefactor of Mankind : The Romantic Life Story of the World’s Greatest Inventor (1931) by Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ch. 25 : Edison’s Views on Life — His Philosophy and Religion, p. 293
- We really haven’t got any great amount of data on the subject, and without data how can we reach any definite conclusions? All we have — everything — favors the idea of what religionists call the “Hereafter.” Science, if it ever learns the facts, probably will find another more definitely descriptive term.
- As quoted in Thomas A. Edison, Benefactor of Mankind : The Romantic Life Story of the World’s Greatest Inventor (1931) by Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ch. 25 : Edison’s Views on Life — His Philosophy and Religion, p. 295
- It is very beautiful over there!
- These have sometimes been reported as his last words, but were actually spoken several days before his death, as he awoke from a nap, gazing upwards, as reported by his physician Dr. Hubert S. Howe, in Thomas A. Edison, Benefactor of Mankind : The Romantic Life Story of the World’s Greatest Inventor (1931) by Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ch. 25 : Edison’s Views on Life — His Philosophy and Religion, p. 295
- There is a great directing head of people and things — a Supreme Being who looks after the destinies of the world.
I am convinced that the body is made up of entities that are intelligent and are directed by this Higher Power. When one cuts his finger, I believe it is the intelligence of these entities which heals the wound. When one is sick, it is the intelligence of these entities which brings convalescence. You know that there are living cells in the body so tiny that the microscope cannot find them at all. The entities that give life and soul to the human body are finer still and lie infinitely beyond the reach of our finest scientific instruments. When these entities leave the body, the body is like a ship without a rudder — deserted, motionless and dead.- As quoted in The Romance and Drama of the Rubber Industry (1936) by Harvey Samuel Firestone
- Restlessness is discontent — and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man — and I will show you a failure.
- The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison (1948), p. 110
- 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.
- As quoted in Makers of the Modern World : The Lives of Ninety-two Writers, Artists, Scientists, Statesmen, Inventors, Philosophers, Composers, and Other Creators who Formed the Pattern of Our Century (1955) by Louis Untermeyer, p. 227
- So far as the religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake … Religion is all bunk.
- As quoted in What on Earth is an Atheist! (1972) by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, p. 251
- I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
- Response to the idea that he had failed after 10,000 experiments to develop a storage battery, as quoted in The World Book Encyclopedia (1993) Vol. E, p. 78; there are many variants on this quote, with the numbers mentioned ranging from 97 to 10,000.
- Variants:
- Results! I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.
- We have only found 586 ways that won’t work and won’t have to be tried again.
Soon, we will find one that does. - I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work.
- If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
- Failed? — why we haven’t failed, we only know the thousands of ways that won’t work.
- As paraphrased in Proceedings of the Regular Meeting (1924) by The Association of American Railroads, Car Service Division, p. 23
- Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
- As quoted in An Enemy Called Average (1990) by John L. Mason, p. 55
- If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
- As quoted in Motivating Humans : Goals, Emotions, and Personal Agency Beliefs (1992) by Martin E. Ford, p. 17
- If our 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 the bond lets money brokers collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%, where as the currency pays nobody but those who contribute directly in some useful way.
It is absurd to say our country can issue $30 million in bonds and not $30 million in currency. Both are promises to pay, but one promise fattens the userers and the other helps the people.- Criticizing the Federal Reserve System, as quoted in The Money Masters (1995)
- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
- As quoted in Behavior-Based Robotics (1998) by Ronald C. Arkin. p. 8
- 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!
- As quoted in Tesla : The Modern Sorcerer (1999) by Daniel Blair Stewart, p. 411
- Variant: Everyone steals in commerce and industry. I have stolen a lot myself. But at least I know how to steal.
- Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages
- As quoted in Everything You Need to Know about Being a Vegan (1999) by Stefanie Iris Weiss, p. 6
- I find out what the world needs. Then, I go ahead and invent it.
- As quoted in American Greats (1999) Edited by Robert A. Wilson and Stanley Marcus, p. 70
- We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.
- As quoted in “The Limits of Knowledge and the Hope for Progress” by Francisco J. Ayala in God, Science, and Humility : Ten Scientists Consider Humility Theology (2000) by Robert L. Herrmann, p. 132
- Hell, there are no rules here — we’re trying to accomplish something.
- As quoted in How to Think Like Einstein : Simple Ways to Break the Rules and Discover Your Hidden Genius (2000) by Scott Thorpe, p. 124
- Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.
- As quoted in Artifacts : An Archaeologist’s Year in Silicon Valley (2001) by Christine Finn. p. 90
- 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.
- As quoted in Jesus : Myth Or Reality? (2006) by Ian Curtis, p. 289
- 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.
- Diary entry, as quoted in Defending and Parenting Children Who Learn Differently : Lessons from Edison’s Mother (2007) by Scott Teel, p. 12
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