Top 351 Quotes & Sayings by Thomas A. Edison

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American inventor Thomas A. Edison.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Thomas A. Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.

I start where the last man left off.
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
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.
His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine. — © Thomas A. Edison
His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.
Great ideas originate in the muscles.
Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and the cause and prevention of disease.
There's a way to do it better - find it.
Religion is all bunk.
The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless.
I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
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. — © Thomas A. Edison
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.
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.
To have a great idea, have a lot of them.
The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward.
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
What a man's mind can create, man's character can control.
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.
To my mind the old masters are not art; their value is in their scarcity.
The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.
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.
The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.
Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
What you are will show in what you do.
I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!
When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.
One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But... I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
There is no substitute for hard work.
I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.
The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. — © Thomas A. Edison
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.
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.
There is far more opportunity than there is ability.
Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.
I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.
Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.
Discontent is the first necessity of progress. — © Thomas A. Edison
Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
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.
It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
I never view mistakes as failures. They are simply opportunities to find out what doesn't work.
The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do.
Success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration!
There is a better way for everything. Find it.
Fools call wise men fools. A wise man never calls any man a fool.
The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child.
Vision without execution is delusion.
Having a vision for what you want is not enough...Vision without execution is hallucination
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