Quotes By Thomas A. Edison

The value of an idea lies in the using of it.

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.

To have a great idea, have a lot of them.

When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.

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

The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.

What you are will show in what you do.

We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.

I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.

To my mind the old masters are not art; their value is in their scarcity.

What a man's mind can create, man's character can control.

Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.

I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants.

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

Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.

There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.

I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But... I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.

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

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

There's a way to do it better - find it.

Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless.