Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Quotes

• Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.

• There is time for everything.

• There is no substitute for hard work.

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

• There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.

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

• We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.

• Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

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

• Great ideas originate in the muscles.

• Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

• I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.

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

• It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.

• 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.

• 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.

• I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.

• Religion is all bunk.

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

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