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.
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
I don’t mind occasionally having to reinvent a wheel; I don’t even mind using someone’s reinvented wheel occasionally. But it helps a lot if it is symmetric, contains no fewer than ten sides, and has the axle centered. I do tire of trapezoidal wheels with offset axles
Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.
Trust you will avoid the gigantic mistake of alternating current. (writing to Niagara Falls Power Company)
Hard work is the soundest investment. It provides a neat security for your widow’s next husband.
