Wright, Wilbur
Along with his brother Orville, he invented, built, and flew the world's first successful airplane.
Most quoted
"The difficulties which obstruct the pathway to success in flying machine construction are of three general classes: (1) Those which relate to the construction of the sustaining wings; (2) those which relate to the generation and application of the power required to drive the machine through the air; (3) those relating to the balancing and steering of the machine after it is actually in flight."
— from Speech to Western Society of Engineers, 1901
"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, without any obstruction, without any effort, in a leisurely and graceful manner."
— from Some Aeronautical Experiments, 1900
"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, without effort, in a leisurely way, on the crest of the air current."
— from Speech to the Western Society of Engineers, 1900
All quotes by Wright, Wilbur (377)
We have opened a new era in human history.
The possibilities of aviation are endless.
We are just at the beginning of a great adventure.
The air is the ocean of the future.
We are pioneers in a new field.
The work is hard, but the rewards are great.
We are determined to continue our work.
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 the unrestricted highway of the air.
We could not have learned to fly if we had been afraid to fall.
No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris... [it] would require an engine to be developed that would be able to carry a machine for 3,000 miles, and that is an impossibility.
The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.
If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance.
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.
The course of the experiment was not exactly according to program, but the general result was highly satisfactory.
The machine has no future.
The only bird that can fly backward is the hummingbird.
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
I confess that in 1901 I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for 50 years.
The greatest value of the aeroplane is not in its use as a weapon of war, but in its ability to bring nations closer together.
Contemporaries of Wright, Wilbur
Other Inventions born within 50 years of Wright, Wilbur (1867–1912).