Edwin Howard Armstrong

Invention American 1890 – 1954 356 quotes

An American electrical engineer who invented FM radio and made significant contributions to radio technology.

Most quoted

"The radio art is a peculiar one. It is not like the telephone, where you can talk to one person. It is like a public address system, where you talk to everybody, whether they want to listen or not."

— from Biography of Edwin Howard Armstrong

"The only real security is not insurance or money or a job, not a house and furniture, or a retirement fund. The only real security is the ability to produce, to create, to invent."

— from Attributed

"I could never accept findings based almost exclusively on mathematics. It ain't ignorance that causes all the trouble in this world. It's the things people know that ain't so."

— from Attributed

All quotes by Edwin Howard Armstrong (356)

The battle for a new idea is often longer and harder than the invention itself.

Attributed

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Attributed (often misattributed)

The value of an idea lies in the using of it.

Attributed

FM will bring music into the home with a clarity and realism never before possible.

Public Demonstration 1939

The corporation's greatest weapon is not its engineers, but its lawyers.

Legal Struggle 1945

I have given my life to radio. I have no other interests.

Personal Letter

The fundamental laws of nature are simple. The best inventions are simple.

Attributed

They can delay my patents, but they cannot stop the truth of the invention.

Legal Battle 1928

An invention is not truly complete until it is in the service of the public.

Attributed

The static problem is solved. The future is wide-band FM.

Report to FCC 1935

I built my first radio station on the roof of my apartment building. They said I was mad.

Anecdote

The quest for perfection is what drives the inventor.

Attributed

My only enemy is the entrenched interest that fears change.

Interview 1940

The beauty of FM is in its mathematical purity. Noise is outside the band.

Technical Lecture 1936

A man is judged by his works, not by his words.

Attributed

I have fought the long defeat for what I believe is right.

Personal Reflection 1953