Quotes from Nikola Tesla

Is nature a gigantic cat?

Anti-social behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists

The... development of man [has as its] ultimate purpose the complete mastery of mind over the material world.

My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labour and sacrifices made

My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labor and sacrifices made. This is one of the reasons why I feel certain that of all my inventions, the magnifying transmitter will prove most important and valuable to future generations. I am prompted to this prediction, not so much by thoughts of the commercial and industrial revolution which it will surely bring about, but of the humanitarian consequences of the many achievements it makes possible.

Problem of Increasing Human Energy," in

If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor.

But the female mind has demonstrated a capacity for all the mental acquirements and achievements of men, and as generations ensue that capacity will be expanded; the average woman will be as well educated as the average man, and then better educated, for the dormant faculties of her brain will be stimulated to an activity that will be all the more intense and powerful because of centuries of repose. Woman will ignore precedent and startle civilization with their progress.

One of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.

human energy is measured by half the product of man's mass with the square of a certain hypothetical velocity. However

Anti-social behaviour is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists.

Universal peace is a beautiful dream, but not at once realizable.

It will only be necessary to carry an inexpensive instrument not bigger than a watch, which will enable its bearer to hear anywhere on sea or land for distances of thousands of miles. One may listen or transmit speech or song to the uttermost parts of the world. In the same way, any kind of picture, drawing, or print can be transferred from one place to another. It will be possible to operate millions of such instruments from a single station.

Cuando comprendes que toda opinión es una visión cargada de historia personal, empiezas a comprender que todo juicio es una confesión.

There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine.

It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.

Our entire biological system, the brain, and the Earth itself, work on the same frequencies.

Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.

One day man will connect his apparatus to the very wheel work of the universe. The very forces that motivate the planets in their orbits and cause them to rotate will rotate his own machinery.

So we find that the three possible solutions of the great problem of increasing human energy are answered by the three words: food, peace, work.

Every living being is an engine geared to the wheel-work of the universe.

Sometimes I feel that by not marrying, I made too great a sacrifice to my work.

The newspapers of the twenty-first century will give a mere 'stick' in the back pages to accounts of crime or political controversies, but will headline on the front pages the proclamation of a new scientific hypothesis.

There is no doubt that some plant food, such as oatmeal, is more economical than meat, and superior to it in regard to both mechanical and mental performance. Such food, moreover, taxes our digestive organs decidedly less, and, in making us more contented and sociable, produces an amount of good difficult to estimate.