Watson, ... if I can get a mechanism which will make a current of electricity vary in its intensity, as the air varies in density when a sound is passing through it, I can telegraph any sound, even the sound of speech.

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with - a man is what he makes of himself.

One day there will be a telephone in every major city in the USA

You cannot force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth. Ideas do not reach perfection in a day, no matter how much study is put upon them.

God has strewn our paths with wonders and we certainly should not go through life with our eyes shut

Ordinary people who know nothing of phonetics or elocution have difficulties in understanding slow speech composed of perfect sounds, while they have no difficulty in comprehending an imperfect gabble if only the accent and rhythm are natural.