The Wright Brothers

The problem of flight is not a problem of strength, but of grace.

We had to learn to feel the air, as a bird feels the air.

The air is a challenge, and we accepted it.

We were not just flying, but soaring.

The machine is a partner, and the man is the guide.

We had to learn to trust our instincts.

The air is a mystery, and we sought to unravel it.

I am an enthusiast, but not a crank.

It is not necessary to be a horse to be a good jockey.

The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously at the birds soaring freely through space, at tremendous speed, with a minimum of effort, and wished that they, too, could fly.

I confess that in 1901 I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for 50 years. Ever since I have distrusted myself and lived to see the error of my ways.

The course of the experiment was not exactly according to program.

We could not have chosen a worse time to make our first trials.

Success is not a matter of luck, but of patient, persistent effort.

If we worked on the assumption that what is currently regarded as impossible is impossible, we should never achieve anything.

The machine itself is a thing of beauty.

We have been trying to solve the problem of equilibrium in the air.

Our experiments have been very encouraging.

We have made some progress, but there is still much to be done.

The difficulties are not so great as we at first imagined.