Most talk about 'super-geniuses' is nonsense. I have found that when 'stars' drop out, successors are usually at hand to fill their places, and the successors are merely men who have learned by application and self-discipline to get full production from an average, normal brain.

In my own house I rigged up a laboratory and studied chemistry in the evenings, determined that there should be nothing in the manufacture of steel that I would not know. Although I had received no technical education I made myself master of chemistry and of the laboratory, which proved of lasting value.

A man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away.

The inventor, the man with a unique, specialized talent, is the only real super-genius. But he is so rare that he needs no consideration.

I have always felt that the surest way to qualify for the job just ahead is to work a little harder than any one else on the job one is holding down.

I didn't take up shorthand with any idea of becoming a professional at it. It merely appeared to me to be a good thing to know - something that might come in handy.

We have reached in this country an amazing degree of general prosperity, with American business on the whole no longer facing an uphill climb.