Thomas A. Edison Quotes
I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
Education isn't play--and it can't be made to look like play. It is hard, hard work. But it can be made interesting work.
First, study the present construction. Second, ask for all past experiences ...study and read everything you can on the subject.
If I had not had so much ambition and not tried to do so many things, I probably would have been happier, but less useful.
I am long on ideas, but short on time. I expect to live to be only about a hundred.
I owe my success to the fact that I never had a clock in my workroom. Seventy-five of us worked twenty hours every day and slept only four hours - and thrived on it.
To me, the idea and expectation that the day is slowly and surely coming when we will be able to honestly say we are our brother's keeper and not his oppressor is very beautiful .
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.
Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.
Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.
I have better use for my brain than to poison it with alcohol. To put alcohol in the human brain is like putting sand in the bearings of an engine.
Because I readily absorb ideas from every source - frequently starting where the last person left off - I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.
The money one gets for selling one's soul is always spent in deadening one's conscience, so the net gain at the end of a lifetime is no greater than if the diabolic bargain had not been struck.
His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.
X-rays ... I am afraid of them. I stopped experimenting with them two years ago, when I came near to losing my eyesight and Dally, my assistant practically lost the use of both of his arms.
Smoking too much makes me nervous. Must lasso my natural tendency to acquire such habits. Holding heavy cigar constantly in my mouth has deformed my upper lip, it has a sort of Havana curl.
Inspiration can be found in a pile of junk. Sometimes, you can put it together with a good imagination and invent something.
Because ideas have to be original only with regard to their adaptation to the problem at hand, I am always extremely interested in how others have used used them.
The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if on will only take the pains to train the mind to think.
I do not believe in the God of the theologians; but that there is a Supreme Intelligence I do not doubt.
What is a college? An institute of learning. What is a business? An institute of learning. Life, itself, is an institute of learning.
There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start a new.
The great trouble is that the preachers get the children from six to seven years of age and then it is almost impossible to do anything with them.
Even though I am nearly deaf, I seem to be gifted with a kind of inner hearing which enables me to detect sounds and noises which the ordinary person does not hear.
Large portions of life's disappointments are individuals who did not understand that they were so near achievement when they surrendered.
For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope.
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will involve the patient in the proper use of food, fresh air and exercise
I believe that the science of chemistry alone almost proves the existence of an intelligent creator.
I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say that I discovered there are 1000 ways that can cause failure
