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 are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their weary journeys over endless plains, yearned for a swifter and less laborious means of transport.
If we worked on the assumption that what is currently regarded as impossible is not really impossible, but merely difficult, then we should be able to achieve a great deal more than we do.
The greatest value of our experiments is not in the machines we have built, but in the knowledge we have gained.
We could not have succeeded if we had not been willing to make mistakes.
The problem of flight is not one of power, but of control.
I confess that in 1901, I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for 50 years.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
We were not looking for a machine that would fly, but for a machine that would be controllable in the air.
The fact that we have been able to fly at all is due to our persistent efforts to overcome the difficulties.
The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people don't understand the problem.
The greatest discovery of all is that a man can do what he thinks he can.
We do not believe that the problem of flight will be solved by the construction of a machine which will rise vertically.
The air is a fluid, and we must learn to swim in it.
It is not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
We have been trying to fly for years, and we have learned a great deal.
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
We are not afraid to tackle the impossible.
The air, like the water, is a medium which can be navigated.
Contemporaries of Wright, Wilbur
Other Inventions born within 50 years of Wright, Wilbur (1867–1912).