Quotes from Thomas A. Edison

Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.

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.

The money one gets for selling one's soul is always spent in deadening one's conscience, so the net gain at the end of a lifetime is no greater than if the diabolic bargain had not been struck.

My mother was the making of me. She was so true and so sure of me, I felt that I had someone to live for - someone I must not disappoint. The memory of my mother will always be a blessing to me.

My mother was the making of me.

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

The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.

The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. ~

I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.

Be courageous! Have faith! Go forward.

The memory of my mother will always be a blessing to me.

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. As a result, a genius is often a talented person who has simply done all of his homework.

A good idea is never lost. Even though its originator or possessor may die, it will someday be reborn in the mind of another.

The only time I really become discouraged is when I think of all the things I would like to do and the little time I have in which to do them.

Whatever the mind of man creates, should be controlled by man's character.

I am quite correctly described as 'more of a sponge than an inventor....'

Because ideas have to be original only with regard to their adaptation to the problem at hand, I am always extremely interested in how others have used used them.

Because I readily absorb ideas from every source - frequently starting where the last person left off - I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.

Even though I am nearly deaf, I seem to be gifted with a kind of inner hearing which enables me to detect sounds and noises which the ordinary person does not hear.

My main purpose in life is to make money so I can afford to go on creating more inventions.

My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant - but misdirected - ideas of others.

The thing I lose patience with the most is the clock. Its hands move too fast

I love great music and art, but I think 'cubist' songs and paintings are hideous.