Alexander Graham Bell

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with — a man is what he makes of himself.

You cannot force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth.

I have always considered myself as an Agnostic, but I have now discovered that I am a Unitarian Agnostic.

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.

The telephone is like a very long dog with its tail in Boston and its head in New York. You pull the tail in Boston and it barks in New York.

God has strewn our paths with wonders, and we shall certainly not go through Life with our eyes shut.

I begin my work where the telephone leaves off.

The photophone is the greatest invention I have ever made; greater than the telephone.

It is a mistake to be too much guided by the assumed experience of the past. We must look forward, not backward.

The most interesting things in life are not the things themselves, but the relations between them.

The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.

The only thing that can grow is the thing you give energy to.

We are all too much inclined, I think, to walk through life with our eyes closed. We should not be content with what we see, but should ask what it means.

I have discovered that my interest in my dear pupil, Mabel, has ripened into a far deeper feeling than that of mere friendship. In fact, I know that I have learned to love her very sincerely.

The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.

In scientific researches, there are no unsuccessful experiments. Every experiment contains a lesson. If we stop right there, we miss the lesson.

The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.

The inventor... is not an idle dreamer, but a practical man whose ideas are capable of realization.

The telephone is a necessity of modern life, but the photophone is a luxury.

Do not keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Leave the beaten path occasionally and dive into the woods.