I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident they came by work.
Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
To my mind the old masters are not art their value is in their scarcity.
There is no substitute for hard work.
To have a great idea, have a lot of them.
Religion is all bunk.
The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.
Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
Great ideas originate in the muscles.