Successes teach you nothing. Failures teach you everything. Making mistakes is the most important thing you can do.

Don't listen to experts.

Exactly 5,126 attempts to make the first bagless vacuum cleaner were failures-some catastrophic disappointments, some minor defects. It took 15 years. Prototype 5,127 was the success ... Failure is painful, but it spurs on improvement like nothing else.

An inventor's path is chorused with groans, riddled with fist-banging and punctuated by head scratches.

The media thinks that you have to make science sexy and concentrate on themes such as rivalry and the human issues.

I've fought court battles over my inventions before.

A lot of people give up when the world seems to be against them, but that's the point when you should push a little harder. I use the analogy of running a race. It seems as though you can’t carry on, but if you just get through the pain barrier, you'll see the end and be okay. Often, just around the corner is where the solution will happen.