"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing."

Rating:

  rate this quote
Topic: none  help us select a topic for this quote

More quotes from: Thomas A. Edison

• "Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, ..."
• "Be courageous! Have faith! Go Forward! "
• "Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these ..."
• "Discontent is the first necessity of progress. "
• "Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. "
• "Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. "
• "Great ideas originate in the muscles. "
• "Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. "
• "His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one ..."
• "I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded isanother step forward. "
• "I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill. "
• "I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what ..."
• "I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of ..."
• "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. "
• "I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that ..."
• "I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun. "
• "I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; ..."
• "I start where the last man left off. "
• "If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves. "
• "It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put ..."
• "Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless. "

• "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to ..."
• "Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth. "
• "Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it ..."
• "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we ..."
• "One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the ..."
• "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like ..."
• "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always ..."
• "Religion is all bunk. "
• "Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress. "
• "Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly ..."
• "Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things ..."
• "Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure. "
• "The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil. "
• "The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants. "
• "The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around. "
• "The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes ..."
• "The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common ..."
• "The value of an idea lies in the using of it. "
• "There is far more opportunity than there is ability. "
• "There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor ..."

• "There is no substitute for hard work. "
• "There will one day spring from the brain of science a machine or force so ..."
• "There's a way to do it better - find it. "
• "They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders ..."
• "To have a great idea, have a lot of them. "
• "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. "
• "To my mind the old masters are not art; their value is in their scarcity. "
• "Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim ..."
• "We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. "
• "What a man's mind can create, man's character can control. "
• "What you are will show in what you do. "
• "When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of ..."
• "Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have. "