All our civilization is based on invention; before invention, men lived on fruits and nuts and pine cones and slept in caves.

And invention must still go on for it is necessary that we should completely control our circumstances. It is not sufficient that there should [only] be organization capable of providing food and shelter for all and organization to effect its proper distribution.

... in going over the history of all the inventions for which history could be obtained it became more and more clear that in addition to training and in addition to extensive knowledge, a natural quality of mind was also necessary.

[In relation to business:] Invention must be its keynote-a steady progression from one thing to another. As each in turn approaches a saturated market, something new must be produced.

The inventor and the research man are confused because they both examine results of physical or chemical operations. But they are exact opposites, mirror images of one another. The research man does something and does not care [exactly] what it is that happens, he measures whatever it is. The inventor wants something to happen, but does not care how it happens or what it is that happens if it is not what he wants.

Standardization does not produce although admirable as an efficiency method.

All our civilization is based on invention; before invention, men lived on fruits and nuts and pine cones and slept in caves.