John Mauchly

If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs. If you want to build a computer, you have to break a few vacuum tubes.

The only thing worse than a computer that doesn't work is a computer that works perfectly but does the wrong thing.

We were so busy building the future, we didn't have time to patent it properly.

The problem with being a pioneer is that you get all the arrows.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. In our case, it was the mother of a very large, very hot machine.

We didn't just think outside the box; we built a new box.

The biggest challenge wasn't building the computer, it was convincing people it would actually work.

Our early computers were so big, you could practically live inside them. And sometimes, we did.

The only thing constant in technology is change. And the occasional blown fuse.

We were trying to make a machine that could think, but sometimes it felt like it was thinking against us.

The best way to learn how something works is to try and build it yourself. And then fix all the mistakes.

They called us dreamers. We called ourselves engineers.

The most important part of a computer isn't the hardware or the software, it's the 'ware' between your ears.

We didn't invent the computer; we just made it practical. And a lot louder.

The only thing more complex than a computer is the human mind trying to program it.

If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough. Or you're not building computers.

We were trying to automate calculation, not conversation. Though sometimes it felt like we were doing both.

The greatest invention of all time? The off switch.

We built a machine that could do in seconds what would take a human days. And then we spent days trying to figure out why it was wrong.

The future is not something you wait for; it's something you create, preferably with a lot of wires and vacuum tubes.