If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.
Inventions - Inventors Quotes
Very interesting, Whittle, my boy, but it will never work. (Response of Cambridge aeronautical engineering professor, shown Frank Whittle’s plan for a jet engine)
Where a new invention promises to be useful, it ought to be tried.
This is the man who, as far as inventions go, thinks Wonderbra and La Perla are up there with the wheel.
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)
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, […]
A tool is but an extension of a man’s hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well being of man-kind.
Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.
Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself.
I thank the host this evening for his kind remarks but I must insist upon one minor correction. God invented the talking machine. I only invented the first one that can be shut off. (at a dinner, the toastmaster mentioned his many inventions, dwelling at length on the talking machine.)
