Thomas Edison

My main purpose in life is to make money so I can afford to go on creating more inventions....
I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent....
My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant - but misdirected - ideas of others....
I readily absorb ideas from every source - frequently starting where the last person left off - I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.
Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
The first requisite for success is to develop the ability to focus and apply your mental and physical energies to the problem at hand - without growing weary. Because such thinking is often difficult, there seems to be no limit to which some people will go to avoid the effort and labor that is associated with it....
I never did anything worth doing entirely by accident.... Almost none of my inventions were derived in that manner. They were achieved by having trained myself to be analytical and to endure and tolerate hard work.
If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves....
Our schools and are not teaching students to think. It is astonishing how many young people have difficulty in putting their brains definitely and systematically to work....
The three things that are most essential to achievement are common sense, hard work and stick-to-it-iv-ness.....
I have far more respect for the person with a single idea who gets there than for the person with a thousand ideas who does nothing....
Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Pretty much everything will come to him who hustles while he waits. I believe that restlessness is discontent, and discontent is merely the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability.... We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do in the first place doesn't mean it's useless....
Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....
Surprises and reverses can serve as an incentive for great accomplishment. There are no rules here, we're just trying to accomplish something.
As a cure for worrying, work is far better than whiskey. I always found that, if I began to worry, the best thing I could do was focus upon doing something useful and then work very hard at it. Soon, I would forget what was troubling me.
Barring serious accidents, if you are not preoccupied with worry and you work hard, you can look forward to a reasonably lengthy existence.... Its not the hard work that kills, its the worrying that kills.
The only time I really become discouraged is when I think of all the things I would like to do and the little time I have in which to do them.
Time is really the only capital that any human being has and the thing that he can least afford to waste or lose...
From his neck down a man is worth a couple of dollars a day, from his neck up he is worth anything that his brain can produce.
Be courageous! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation.... Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith and go forward!
If parents pass enthusiasm along to their children, they will leave them an estate of incalculable value....