WIST Quotations

Edison, Thomas Alva -- “They Won’t Think” (1921)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Too many men drift lazily into any job, suited or unsuited for them; and when they don’t get along well they blame everybody and everything but themselves. Grouches are nearly always pinheads, small men who have never made any effort to improve their mental capacity.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
“They Won’t Think” (1921)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- “They Won’t Think” (1921)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train the mind to think. Why do so many men never amount to anything? Because they don’t think.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
“They Won’t Think” (1921)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
(Attributed)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
(Attributed)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
(Attributed)
(Source)

When told by an associate, Walter S. Mallory, that it was a shame that several months of work on new battery technology hadn't yielded any results. Recorded in Dyer and Martin, Edison: His Life and Inventions, Vol. 2, ch. 24 (1910) as an anecdote by Mallory.

More discussion about this quotation's origins and variants: I Have Gotten a Lot of Results! I Know Several Thousand Things That Won’t Work – Quote Investigator.

Edison, Thomas Alva -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
(Attributed)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

What you are will show in what you do.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
(Attributed)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- (Spurious)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
(Spurious)

The quotation is first recorded anonymously in 1921, but is not attributed to Edison until 1962. More discussion here: Opportunity Is Missed Because It Is Dressed in Overalls and Looks Like Work – Quote Investigator.

Edison, Thomas Alva -- Interview, New York World (1888)

Dave — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:32:27 +0000

There isn’t a bit of philanthropy in it. Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent, because anything that won’t sell hasn’t reached the acme of success. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
Interview, New York World (1888)
(Source)

Edison, Thomas Alva -- Remarks to M. A. Rosanoff, “Edison in His Laboratory,” Harper’s (Sep 1932)

Dave — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:13:48 +0000

If there is such a thing as luck, then I must be the most unlucky fellow in the world. I’ve never once made a lucky strike in all my life. When I get after something I need, I start finding everything in the world I don’t need — one damn thing after another. I find ninety-nine things I don’t need, and then comes number one hundred , and that — at the very last — turns out to be just what I had been looking for.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman
Remarks to M. A. Rosanoff, “Edison in His Laboratory,” Harper’s (Sep 1932)