Last Updated:Saturday, 18 February 2023

Thomas Edison Quotes

Childhood

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio as seventh and last child to Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott. He grew up in Port Huron, Michigan, after the family moved there in 1854. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother and was mostly self read. At age of 12, he faced hearing issues and later was completely deaf. He was fascinated with technology and spent hours working on experiments at home.

Career

He started earning very early by the age of 13. He used to sell candy, newspapers and vegetables on the trains. With his earnings he brought equipment for electrical and chemical experiments. He became a telegraph operator at the Railways where he also studied qualitative analysis and conducted chemical experiments on the train until he left the job. His first entrepreneurial venture was the Grand Trunk Herald newspaper. Edison’s entrepreneurship was the nucleus to the formation of nearly 14 companies, including General Electric which is till date one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. By age of 19, he started full time jobs in night shifts only, so that he could do his experiments in the day time.

Science and Technology

The electric vote recorder was his first patent in 1869. In 1876, an industrial research lab was established in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison's first big financial success was the Quadruplex Telegraph and Menlo Park served as the first institution which was set up with the specific purpose of producing technological innovation and improvement. Edison's name is registered on 1,093 patents. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park" with the invention of the phonograph in 1877. His contributions are Phonograph, Carbon telephone transmitter, Electric light, Electric power distribution, war of currents, Fluoroscopy, Tasimeter, Telegraph improvements, Motion pictures, Mining, rechargeable battery and Chemicals like phenol, aniline dyes.

Here are Quotes by Thomas Edison that will strongly and immensely inspire you.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. -Thomas A. Edison
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless. -Thomas A. Edison
There's a way to do it better - find it. -Thomas A. Edison
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -Thomas A. Edison
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. -Thomas A. Edison
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. -Thomas A. Edison
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves. -Thomas A. Edison
The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense. -Thomas A. Edison

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. -Thomas A. Edison
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. -Thomas A. Edison
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. -Thomas A. Edison
The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and the cause and prevention of disease. -Thomas A. Edison

I start where the last man left off. -Thomas A. Edison
I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world. -Thomas A. Edison
Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work. -Thomas A. Edison
Great ideas originate in the muscles. -Thomas A. Edison
Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged. -Thomas A. Edison
Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward! -Thomas A. Edison
His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine. -Thomas A. Edison
When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes. -Thomas A. Edison
I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success. -Thomas A. Edison
The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants. -Thomas A. Edison
They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward. -Thomas A. Edison

Related:Abraham Lincoln Quotes

Family life

At the age of 24, on December 25, 1871, Edison married 16-year-old Mary Stilwell (1855–1884) and fathered three children: Marion Estelle Edison, Thomas Alva Edison Jr. and William Leslie Edison . After the death of first wife, at the age of 39, Edison married the 20-year-old Mina Miller on February 24, 1886 and fathered three children: Madeleine Edison, Charles Edison and Theodore Miller Edison. He had purchased "Glenmont" in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey in 1886 as a wedding gift for Mina. which. After Thomas Edison’ death, Charles Edison took over his father's company and experimental laboratories.

Death

Edison died on October 18, 1931, of complications of diabetes, at his residence "Glenmont". Rev. Stephen J. Herben officiated Edison’ funeral and was buried behind the home. It is said that Edison's last breath is contained in a test tube at The Henry Ford museum near Detroit. Also a plaster death mask and casts of Edison's hands are made and preserved in the museum. As per reports, Ford convinced Charles Edison shortly after his death to seal a test tube of air in the inventor's room, as a memento.

Edison’s contribution in the field of science & technology is immense apart from inventing the incandescent electric light bulb and the phonograph and giving birth to many devices. His life teaches us to not stop until we get what we want, never lose hope. He was a man of hope, determination and strong belief. His life was a race and he was his own competitor. His quotes inspire us to be courageous to chase our dreams. Share Thomas Edison‘s quotes with friends, family, co-workers and well wishers to motivate them.

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