Even though I am nearly deaf, I seem to be gifted with a kind of inner hearing which enables me to detect sounds and noises which the ordinary person does not hear.

His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.

My main purpose in life is to make money so I can afford to go on creating more inventions.

I did not fail two thousand times. I merely found two thousand ways not to make a lightbulb.

Somewhere between the ages of eleven and fifteen, the average child begins to suffer from an atrophy, the paralysis of curiosity and the suspension of the power to observe. The trouble, I should judge, to lie with the schools.

Many a person who could not comprehend Rousseau, and would be puzzled by Montesquieu, could understand Paine as an open book. He wrote with a clarity, a sharpness of outline and exactness of speech that even a schoolboy should be able to grasp.

To get a great idea, come up with lots of them.