Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. (Regarding Robert Goddard’s revolutionary work, 1921)
Inventions - Inventors Quotes
Young people tend to look down on my generation. They say that we didn’t have satellite TV, we didn’t have personal computers, we didn’t have the internet. They’re right. We “invented” them.
To select well among old things is almost equal to inventing new ones.
One thing the inventors can’t seem to get the bugs out of is fresh paint.
Edison did not invent the first talking machine – he invented the first one that could be turned off.
To be fruitful in invention, it is indispensable to have a habit of observation and reflection.
Necessity is the mother of invention, it is true, but its father is creativity, and knowledge is the midwife.
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a silly proverb. “Necessity is the mother of futile dodges” is much nearer the truth.
There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to institute a new order of things.
The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? (Associate of radio pioneer David Sarnoff, 1920s)
