Share this page: Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -- Edison, 1877, as quoted in From Telegraph to Light Bulb with Thomas Edison by Deborah Hedstrom (2007) Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. -- Edison, c. 1903, as reported in Harper's Monthly (September 1932) 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 1929 press conference, as quoted in Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindbergh by James D. Newton (1987) Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. -- Quoted in Thomas Alva Edison: Sixty Years of an Inventor's Life by Francis Arthur Jones (1908) Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. -- Quoted in An Enemy Called Average by John L. Mason (1990) 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) We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. -- Quoted in Golden Book (April 1931), according to Stevenson's Book of Quotations, edited by Burton Egbert Stevenson (3rd edition, Cassell, 1938) I find out what the world needs. Then, I go ahead and invent it. -- Quoted in American Greats (1999), edited by Robert A. Wilson and Stanley Marcus. Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless. -- Quoted in Artifacts: An Archaeologist's Year in Silicon Valley by Christine Finn (2001) For most of my life I refused to work at any problem unless its solution seemed to be capable of being put ot commercial use. -- Interview, New York Sun, February 1917 Share this page:

The selection of the above quotes and the writing of the accompanying notes was performed by the author David Paul Wagner. About Us • Contact Us • Privacy • Terms of Use © 2005-23 Wide World of Quotes. All Rights Reserved.