Quotes By Thomas A. Edison

His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.

Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.

Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.

There is no substitute for hard work.

It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.

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

Religion is all bunk.

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.

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

What you are will show in what you do.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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