Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.

The motors I build there were exactly as I imagined them. I made no attempt to improve the design, but merely reproduced the pictures as they appeared to my vision and the operation was always as I expected.

It will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages around the world so simply that any individual can carry and operate his own apparatus.

Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance.

Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.

Edison was by far the most successful and, probably, the last exponent of the purely empirical method of investigation. Everything he achieved was the result of persistent trials and experiments often performed at random but always attesting extraordinary vigor and resource. Starting from a few known elements, he would make their combinations and permutations, tabulate them and run through the whole list, completing test after test with incredible rapidity until he obtained a clue. His mind was dominated by one idea, to leave no stone unturned, to exhaust every possibility.

All the great religions contain wise prescriptions relating to the conduct of life, which hold good now as they did when they were promulgated.