Edison Quotes

• "Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a  'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework."  

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

• The first requisite for success is to develop the ability to focus and apply your mental and physical energies to the problem at hand - without growing weary. Because such thinking is often difficult, there seems to be no limit to which some people will go to avoid the effort and labor that is associated with it....
  
• I never did anything worth doing entirely by accident.... Almost none of my inventions were derived in that manner. They were achieved by having trained myself to be analytical and to endure and tolerate hard work.
  
• Inspiration can be found in a pile of junk. Sometimes, you can put it together with a good imagination and invent something.
  
• Personally, I enjoy working about 18 hours a day. Besides the short catnaps I take each day, I average about four to five hours of sleep per night.
  
• Most of the exercise I get is from standing and walking all day from one laboratory table to another.  I derive more benefit and entertainment from this than some of my friends and competitors get from playing games like golf.
  
• If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves....
  
• Our schools are not teaching students to think. It is astonishing how many young people have difficulty in putting their brains definitely and systematically to work....
  
• The three things that are most essential to achievement are common sense, hard work and stick-to-it-iv-ness.....
   
• I have far more respect for the person with a single idea who gets there than for the person with a thousand ideas who does nothing.... 

• Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
   
• Pretty much everything will come to him who hustles while he waits. I believe that restlessness is discontent, and discontent is merely the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
  
• Unfortunately, there seems to be  far more opportunity out there than ability.... We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.
  
• Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do in the first place doesn't mean it's useless....
    
• Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....