Thomas Edison — "My main purpose in life is to make money so that I can afford to carry on more e…"
My main purpose in life is to make money so that I can afford to carry on more experiments.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Thomas Edison
"I have always been a great admirer of women. I think they are the most wonderful creatures on earth. I think they are more intelligent than men. I think they are more capable than men. I think they ar…"
"I have a theory that the human voice is immortal. It is a form of energy that never dies. It just changes form."
"I owe my success to the fact that I never had a watch. I never knew what time it was, so I never stopped working."
"The mind can do anything it wants to do."
"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that."
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
Money is not the goal itself but the fuel for something bigger. The speaker wants wealth only because it funds the work that truly matters to them: running experiments, testing ideas, and building things. Earnings are treated as a means to keep creating, not as a measure of success or a reward to enjoy. Profit exists to be reinvested into more discovery.
Relevance to Thomas Edison
Edison ran Menlo Park and later West Orange as industrial research labs that devoured capital, staffing dozens of assistants and stockpiling exotic materials for the light bulb, phonograph, and film work. He founded Edison Electric and General Electric partly to bankroll research, patented 1,093 inventions, and repeatedly plowed earnings back into the next project rather than living lavishly on royalties.
The era
In late-1800s America, invention was shifting from lone tinkerers to capital-intensive industrial R&D. The Second Industrial Revolution demanded money for equipment, patents, and staff, while Gilded Age financiers like J.P. Morgan funded electrification. Edison worked in an era before government science grants, so inventors self-financed through business ventures, making the link between commerce and experimentation a practical necessity of the age.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].