The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible. (Response of a Yale professor, shown Fred Smith’s early vision of Federal Express)
Inventions - Inventors Quotes
A remarkable characteristic of the Americans is the manner in which they have applied science to modern life – In England an inventor is regarded almost as a crazy man, and in too many instances invention ends in disappointment and poverty. In America an inventor is honored, help is forthcoming, and the exercise of ingenuity, […]
Who, when he saw the first sand or ashes by a casual intensiveness of heat melted into metalline form, rugged with excrescences and clouded with impurities, would have imagined that in this formless lump lay concealed so many conveniences of life as would in time constitute a great part of the happiness of the world? […]
What, sir, you would make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense. (to Robert Fulton)
Invention is the talent of youth, as judgment is of age.
Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.
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)
