Innovation Quotes
These innovation quotes are as enlightening today as they were in the past and as they will be in the future.
A common characteristic of inventors is their desire to improve things. People that have this trait of course do pursue other professions but their creativity is that of an inventor and innovator.
So it should come as no surprise that President Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Harry Houdini and other gifted individuals were also passionate inventors.
There is a Chinese proverb that says, "The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." So I've also included quotes from influential individuals who had opposed some of the world's greatest innovations.
Steve Jobs
"The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." ~ Steve Jobs
"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even
built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or
we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come
work for you.'
And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet." ~ Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs started making his Apple computers in his parents garage in 1976. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and his friend Steve Wozniak sold his HP calculator to raise $1300 to buy computer parts. Their first order was for 50 computers. One year later, they had $800,000 in sales. Five years later, Apple was a Fortune 500 company.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." ~ Ken Olson, founder, chairman and president of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
Henry Ford
"The horse is here today, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad."
~ President of Michigan Savings Bank advising against investing in the Ford Motor Company.
Larry Page "You need to invent things and you need to get them to people.
You need to commercialize those inventions. Obviously, the
best way we've come up with doing that is through
companies." ~ Larry Page "Many leaders of big organizations, I think, don't
believe that change is possible. But if you look
at history, things do change, and if your business
is static, you're likely to have issues." ~ Larry Page
Mark Twain Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), was a humorist, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and an inventor. Twain received his first patent in 1871 (Patent No. 121,992) for adjustable and detachable garment suspenders. He also had two other inventions, a self-pasting scrapbook and a game for improving memory. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain "Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident." ~ Mark Twain "A country without a patent office and good patent laws is just a crab, and can't travel any way but sideways and backways." ~ Mark Twain
Alexander Graham Bell "Before anything else, preparation is the key to
success." ~ Alexander Graham Bell "This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a
means of communication. The device is inherently of no value
to us." ~
Western Union memo (1876)
Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder, chairman
and chief
executive of Facebook. He invented the software code used by the social media network. In 2008, he became
the world's youngest billionaire. "The biggest risk is not taking any risk...In a world
that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that
is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks." ~ Mark Zuckerberg
Harry Houdini Harry Houdini was one of the greatest magicians
in history. He was also a pilot, movie actor, entrepreneur
and inventor. Houdini received a patent in 1921 (Patent
No. 1,370,316) for inventing a diving suit. “Keep up your enthusiasm! There is nothing more contagious
than exuberant enthusiasm." ~ Harry Houdini "I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do
something greater, something more wonderful." ~ Harry Houdini
Charles F. Kettering Kettering (August 29, 1876 – November 25, 1958) was an American engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He held 186 patents on a wide variety of inventions. Among his most popular innovations
were the electric starting motor, a lightweight
two-stroke diesel engine, leaded gasoline, freon
refrigerant, and the first aerial missile. Kettering started Delco and was also head of research and development for General Motors. “The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination.
But so few have
imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one
composer.” ~ Charles Kettering "An inventor is simply a person who doesn't take his education too seriously. You see, from the time a person is six years old until he graduates from college he has to take three or four examinations a year. If he flunks once, he is out. But an inventor is almost always failing. He tries and fails maybe a thousand times. It he succeeds once then he's in. These two things are diametrically opposite. We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work."
~ Charles F. Kettering
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln received a patent in 1849 (Patent No. 6,469) for inventing bellows that attached to the hulls of ships. His invention prevented ships from grounding in shallow waters. "Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions
hitherto unexplored." ~ Abraham Lincoln
"That some achieve great success, is proof to all that
others can achieve it as well." ~ Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Edison "I failed my way to success." ~ Thomas Edison “To have a great idea, have a lot of them.” ~ Thomas Edison "I start where the last man left off." ~ Thomas Edison "Vision without execution is hallucination." ~ Thomas Edison “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't
work.” ~ Thomas Edison
Nikola Tesla "There is no subject more captivating, more worthy of study, than nature. To understand this great mechanism, to discover the forces which are active, and the laws which govern them, is the highest aim of the intellect of man." ~ Nikola Tesla “There is practically no chance communication space satellites
will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television or
radio service inside the United States.” ~ T. Craven, FCC
Commissioner, 1961.
Leonardo da Vinci "Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy
it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing
something else." ~ Leonardo da Vinci
Albert Einstein Einstein was a famous physicist renowned for his theory on relativity, which is a pillar of contemporary physics. But he was also an inventor. Einstein, along with his co-inventor Leo Szilard, received a patent in 1930 (Patent No. 1,781,541) for inventing an eco-friendly refrigerator. "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish
by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its
whole life believing that it is stupid."
~ Albert Einstein "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what
you always got." ~ Albert Einstein "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results." ~ Albert Einstein "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." ~ Albert Einstein
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was a founding father
of America. He was also an entrepreneur, author, scientist,
and inventor. Among his best known inventions were
the lightning rod, bifocals and the odometer. "All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are
immovable, those that are movable, and those that move." ~
Benjamin Franklin "By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail." ~
Benjamin Franklin
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." ~ Henry Ford
Larry Page is the co-founder and
chief executive of Google. He invented the
Google search ranking algorithm and has an estimated
personal wealth of $32.3
billion.
"The man with a new idea is a crank - until the idea succeeds." ~ Mark Twain
"When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." ~ Alexander Graham Bell 
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| STEVEN SASSON - THE INVENTOR OF DIGITAL CAMERAS - TALKS ABOUT THE KEYS TO INNOVATION. |
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| RALPH BAER - FATHER OF VIDEO GAMING - TALKS ABOUT WHY HE INVENTS |
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