Wright Brothers (Orville & Wilbur) — "We had no idea of the amount of publicity that would follow our flights."
We had no idea of the amount of publicity that would follow our flights.
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 Wright Brothers (Orville & Wilbur)
"It was the first time in the history of the world that a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed, and had f…"
"We have not yet fully solved the problem of balance in high winds."
"It is a question of whether the machine was designed to be beautiful, or beautiful because it was well designed."
"The fact that the machine has not failed in any material part is a source of great satisfaction."
"Our experiments were made on a larger scale than those of any other investigator."
About Wright Brothers (Orville & Wilbur) (Wilbur 1867-1912; Orville 1871-1948)
American aviation pioneers who achieved the first sustained powered controlled airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, NC, on December 17, 1903. Closely associated with Octave Chanute (their gliding mentor and aeronautical correspondent). For an intellectual contrast, see Samuel Pierpont Langley, Smithsonian Institution Secretary and government-funded aviation researcher — Langley's Aerodrome crashed twice into the Potomac in October-December 1903 with $50,000 of War Department funding; the Wright Brothers' bicycle-shop empiricism beat Langley's institutional Big Science by 9 days. The most-cited example in engineering history of empirical-tinkerer beating institution-funded credentialism.
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
The speaker admits they did not anticipate how much attention their actions would attract. They were focused on the work itself, not on fame or spectacle, and were genuinely surprised when the world reacted with overwhelming interest. It captures the humility of people who accomplished something significant without expecting, or seeking, the spotlight that came with it.
Relevance to Wright Brothers (Orville & Wilbur)
The Wrights were bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio who funded their own aeronautical experiments and worked in near obscurity at Kitty Hawk. They avoided reporters, were privately religious, and preferred quiet tinkering to showmanship. After December 17, 1903, they continued testing at Huffman Prairie with almost no press, genuinely astonished when public demonstrations in 1908 turned them into international celebrities overnight.
The era
In the early 1900s, powered flight was widely considered impossible or a crackpot pursuit, and most American newspapers ignored or disbelieved early reports from Kitty Hawk. The rise of mass-circulation press, newsreels, and telegraph wire services meant that once their 1908 public flights in France and Fort Myer were verified, news traveled globally within hours, creating a modern celebrity phenomenon the Wrights were entirely unprepared for.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].