Quotes by Thomas Edison

• There is far more opportunity than there is ability.
• The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
• The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
• The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.
• The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.
• The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.
• 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.
• We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
• 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.
• There will one day spring from the brain of science a machine or force so fearful in its potentialities, so absolutely terrifying, that even man, the fighter, who will dare torture and death in order to inflict torture and death, will be appalled, and so abandon war forever.
• There's a way to do it better - find it.
• They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward.
• To have a great idea, have a lot of them.
• To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
• Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
• 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.
• What a man's mind can create, man's character can control.
• What you are will show in what you do.
• When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.
• Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.
• To my mind the old masters are not art; their value is in their scarcity.
• I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
• 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!
• 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.
• Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
• Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
• Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
• Great ideas originate in the muscles.
• Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
• His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.
• I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.
• The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants.
• I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.
• Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
• I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.
• I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.
• I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
• I start where the last man left off.
• If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
• It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
• Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
• Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
• Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.
• 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.
• Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.
• 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.
• I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
• I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
• Opportunity often wears overalls and looks like hard work.
• The trouble with opportunity is that it always comes dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.
• Opportunity often comes disguised as hard work.
• Our biggest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
• Failure is not the end, it is simply the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.
• Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
• Success is not built on success; it's built on failure, frustration, and discouragement.
• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.
• Innovation is not about ideas, it's about making ideas happen.
• Opportunities often come dressed in overalls and looking like hard work.
• Opportunity often comes wearing overalls and looking like hard work.
• Opportunity often comes disguised as hard work in overalls.
• Opportunity comes disguised as hard work in overalls.
• Vision without execution is hallucination.
• Great men are not born, they are made through hard work and perseverance.
• Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.
• I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
• Successful people are not gifted, they just work day in and day out towards their goals.
• I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
• I didn't fail the test; I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
• I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work
• A successful individual is the one who can see the invisible and accomplish the impossible.
• Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration
• I invent because I simply can't sit still.
• When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.
• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work
• I didn't fail, I just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
• Success is not a destination; it's a journey of continuous improvement and perseverance.
• I failed my way to success.
• Invention is born out of frustration, necessity, and possibility.
• Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration
• The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.
• When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
• Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so never underestimate the power of persistence.
• Persistence is the key to unlocking great achievements.
• Our biggest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to always try just one more time.
• All great things start as a single idea, but it's perseverance that turns it into reality.
• The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
• Just because something doesn't do what you planned, doesn't mean it's useless.
• I didn't fail, I just found 10,000 ways that didn't work.
• Vision without execution is just hallucination.
• I have not failed. I've just found tons of ways that won't work before I find the one that does.
• Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration; so don't be afraid to sweat a little on your way to greatness!
• Success is like going on an adventure: sometimes you have to travel off the beaten path to find the treasure.
• Success is merely the art of getting up one more time than you fall down.
• Success is just failure that got up for breakfast.
• Success is just failure that tried one more time before giving up.
• I haven't failed; I've just discovered 10,000 ways that won't work.
• Success is just failure that didn’t put its coffee down.
• Success is just failure turned inside out and polished with a little perseverance.
• Success is often the result of failure that heard confidence knocking.
• Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it, just like a stray cat to a spinning ball of yarn.
• Success is often just failure in progress, so fall flat and bounce back with style.
• I failed my way to success—I'll take the road with potholes over using someone else's pavement any day!
• Success is a journey where the road is paved with hard work and a decent supply of coffee.
• Success is simply a series of successful failures on the journey to greatness.
• Life is like aCup of tea – it’s all in how you make it!
• Success is like a light bulb; it only shines when you Edison up and flip the switch on potential!
• The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. Beware of shortcuts!
• Success — it’s 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration… and nearly always best if followed by coffee.
• Success is just two percent inspiration and 98 percent perspiration… and about ten percent feigned confidence.
• Success might be 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but those who can't laugh at their failed attempts are sweating into a sea of missed opportunities.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but let's be honest—coffee is the fuel that turns us into human calculators!
• Success is just failure that got dressed up and moved to the front row.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% sweating more than most of your competitors.
• Success is just failure in progress—so embrace your stumbles; they are signs of the trailblazer!
• Success is ninety percent perspiration and ten percent inspiration—largely made from coffee!
• Success is approximately 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration – but don't sweat it, just dance your way through!
• Success is often just opportunity dressed in overalls and a funny hat.
• Opportunity is often missed because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work.
• Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is take a nap—who knows what great ideas might bloom in a cloud of dreams!
• Success is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration, and 100% coffee!
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but also a little bit of knowing which way the wind is blowing!
• Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop pouring a Venti and start painting your own canvas.
• Success often comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it—unless, of course, you accidentally find it while multitasking!
• Success is like your shadow—chase it, and it can leave you behind; but just relax in the sun, and it’ll stick with you.
• Success is a dozen failures dressed up as opportunities.
• Success is just failure that takes its time showing up.
• Success is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration, but remember: laughter is utterly essential—that's one hundred percent required us-not-you fuel!
• Action is the foundational key to all success, except for other factors, like having dumb luck!
• Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom—it's just great leaked data for your epic are's wipe to huge resilience'!
• Success is a ladder that you can't climb with your hands in your pockets.
• Success is just the upper limit of how many times you can fail without letting anyone realize you’re hoping for the best.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration... and a splash of caffeine.
• Success is just failure shrugged off in a nice tuxedo.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration—so turn your sweat into laughter and make a song out of every drop!
• Success is often just failure in progress; so don't hoard your mistakes, they're your fuel for greatness.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration... unless you're my teenager, then it's still all about TikTok.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration—though I've secretly been wishing to make character 'sweat more attractive' since kindergarten!
• Success is falling nine times and getting up ten; remember, the weight of your shoes sill sinks makes the landing a thrill!
• Success is just failure beaten with a little perseverance.
• Success is the science of getting up one more time than you fell.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration... and a very good hair product.
• Success is like a fragile bubble; it only takes one needle of doubt to pop it!
• Success is just failure that arrived five minutes early.
• Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration—so get ready to sweat a little!
• Failure is just success in progress, like a mountain trip where every stumble builds your better view.
• Failure is simply the handkerchief that success uses to wipe its sweat.
• Success is 1% inspiration, 99% espresso.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration—thankfully, my superpower is sweating!
• Success is just 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, but let's be honest, a little chocolate in the process doesn't hurt!
• Success is 1% talent, 99% practice, and a solid 100% on snack breaks.
• Success is often the result of taking a misstep at the right time.
• Necessity may be the mother of invention, but laziness is its eccentric uncle who always knows the right trick to make it easier.
• Success is just failure turned inside out, not opposing knees; when we stumble, we discover hope at those forgotten corners.
• Success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration, and the other 80% figuring out where the pencils went.
• Success is just failure that gave up a little too soon.
• Success usually arrives dressed in overalls and looking like work.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but you'd better keep the coffee flowing or it could turn into procrastination!
• Don't be afraid of shadows; it means there's a light somewhere nearby.
• Success is often just holding on to your ideas five minutes longer than everyone else.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but let’s not forget that 100% of bravery usually ends with someone spilling coffee on themselves.
• Success is just failure that didn't intend to quit.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% sheer determination—unless you find a genie, then it's just luck.
• Success is simply the result of getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down.
• Success is the science of getting up one more time than you fall.
• Success is 1% inspiration and 99% technobabble.
• Success is just failure that stepped in for a better wardrobe.