[I predict] the electricity generated by water power is the only thing that is going to keep future generations from freezing. Now we use coal whenever we produce electric power by steam engine, but there will be a time when there'll be no more coal to use. That time is not in the very distant future. ... Oil is too insignificant in its available supply to come into much consideration.

When it comes to scientific matters the ready talkers simply run riot. There are a lot of pseudo-scientists who with a little technical jargon to spatter through their talk are always getting in the limelight... The less they know the surer they are about it.

Electricity is doing for the distribution of energy what the railroads have done for the distribution of materials.

I have succeeded in getting my actual work down to thirty minutes a day. That leaves me eighteen hours for engineering.

Money is a stupid measure of achievement, but unfortunately it is the only universal measure we have.

As for my memory, I have a particularly good one. I never keep any record of my investigations or experiments. My memory files all these things away conveniently and reliably. I should say, though, that I didn’t cumber it up with a lot of useless matter.

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.