Thomas A. Edison

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

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

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

“There is no substitute for hard work.”

“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.”

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

“Study, along the lines which the theologies have mapped, will never lead us to discovery of the fundamental facts of our existence. That goal must be attained by means of exact science and can only be achieved by such means. The fact that man, for ages, has superstitiously believed in what he calls...”

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.”

“...What I have denied and what my reason compels me to deny, is the existence of a Being throned above us as a god, directing our mundane affairs in detail, regarding us as individuals, punishing us, rewarding us as human judges might. When the churches learn to take this rational view of things, wh...”

“Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.”

“Discontent is the first necessity of progress.”

“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.”

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

“Great ideas originate in the muscles.”

“The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.”

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

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

“I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.”

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

“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.”

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

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”

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

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”

“Restlessness is discontent, and discontent is the first necessity of progress.”

“I am long on ideas, but short on time. I expect to live only about a hundred years.”

“Be courageous! ... I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has come out stronger and more prosperous. Be as brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward.”

“Results? Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.”

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

“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.”

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work.”

“As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.”

“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.”

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

“The most necessary task of civilization is to teach people how to think. It should be the primary purpose of our public schools. The mind of a child is naturally active, it develops through exercise. Give a child plenty of exercise, for body and brain. The trouble with our way of educating is that i...”

“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.”

“Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.”

“I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.”

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

“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.”

“The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.”

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

“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!”

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

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

“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.”

“They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward.”

“His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.”

“Religion is all bunk.”

“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.”

“The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants.”

“I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.”