Thomas Edison

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

I am a good listener. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

The mind can be a prison or a palace.

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

The first thing is to find out what the world needs, and then to proceed to invent it.

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

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

I have more respect for the fellow with a single idea who gets there than for the fellow with a thousand ideas who doesn't.

The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.

I don't think there's any substitute for work.

If you want to get ahead, do all that you can. Don't be afraid to take risks.

I start where the last man left off.

The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.

The only time I ever failed was when I didn't try.

I believe that the brain is the greatest machine in the world.

I have always been a man of action.

My main purpose in life is to make money so that I can afford to carry on more experiments.

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.

I am not a scientist. I am an inventor.

The electric light has caused me the greatest amount of study and has required the most elaborate experiments.