Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (11 February 1847 – 18 October 1931) American inventor

Sourced

• I consider Paine our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so Paine has had no successors who extended his principles.
  • The Philosophy of Paine (June 7, 1925)

• In 'Common Sense' Paine flared forth with a document so powerful that the Revolution became inevitable. Washington recognized the difference, and in his calm way said that matters never could be the same again.
  • The Philosophy of Paine (June 7, 1925)

• Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
  • Source: Harper's Monthly, 1932
  • Variant form: Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.

Attributed

• There is time for everything.

• I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
  • Variant: Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.

• Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

• Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

• Rules! Hell! There ain't no rules around here! We're trying to accomplish sump'n.** Variants:Hell, there are no rules here— we're trying to accomplish something.
  There ain't no rules around here! We're trying to accomplish something!

• There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.

• To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

• We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.

• My mind is incapable of conceiving such a thing as a soul. I may be in error, and man may have a soul; but I simply do not believe it.

• All Bibles are man-made.

• So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake. Religion is all bunk.

External links

Biography

• Dyer, Frank Lewis, "Edison, His Life And Inventions". (Worldwideschool.org)
• Beals, Gerry, "Thomas Edison"
• Murphy, John Patrick Michael, "Thomas Alva Edison"

Historic sites

• Edison Birthplace Museum
• Thomas Edison House
• Edison National Historic Site
• Menlo Park

Archives

• Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University
• Thomas Edison's Patents - Rutgers University
• Edisonian Museum Antique Electrics
• Thomas A. Edison in his laboratory in New Jersey, 1901
• "Edison's Miracle of Light". American Experience , PBS .

Relations

• One Story of Nikola Tesla : Anecdotes concerning the relationship of Tesla and Edison.

Writings and speech

• Edison, Thomas A., The Philosophy of Thomas Paine. June 7, 1925. (essay)