Thomas A. Edison

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

If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

To my mind the old masters are not art, their value is in their scarcity.

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

There's a way to do it better - find it.

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.

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

There is far more opportunity than there is ability.

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

What you are will show in what you do.

What a man's mind can create man's character can control.

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.

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

To have a great idea have a lot of them.

Religion is all bunk.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

There is no substitute for hard work.

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 never did anything 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.

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.

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

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.

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.

I start where the last man left off.

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.

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

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

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

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

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

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

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

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

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