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 did not invent the airplane, we discovered it.
The air is a highway, and we are the travelers.
It is not the bird that makes the cage, but the cage that makes the bird.
The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their tedious travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously at the birds soaring freely through space, at the effortless flight of the eagle and the albatross.
No flying machine will ever be a success unless it is designed to be controlled by the pilot, not by the machine itself.
The course of the experiment was not exactly according to program, but it was a success, nevertheless.
It is not necessary to be a giant to do great things.
The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
If we worked on the assumption that what is currently true will remain true, we would never make any progress.
The best way to get ahead is to get started.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
The human mind is like a parachute. It works best when it's open.
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 all prophets.
The machine itself is nothing, the man is everything.
We could not have succeeded if we had not been in the habit of thinking about everything, no matter how trivial, in connection with the problem of flight.
The greatest value of our experiments is that they taught us how little we knew.
The world is full of people who are waiting for someone to come along and inspire them to be what they always wanted to be. But you have to start with yourself.
The bird is the master of the air, and the air is the master of the bird.
The problem of flight is not to make a machine that will fly, but to make a machine that will fly safely.
The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
Contemporaries of Wright, Wilbur
Other Inventions born within 50 years of Wright, Wilbur (1867–1912).