I successfully eliminated, ten thousand times, materials and combinations which wouldn't work. A genius is a talented person who does his homework. Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with preparation. I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others. I have always found, when I was worrying, that the best thing to do was put my mind upon something, work hard and forget what was troubling me.
Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
I start where the last man left off. I don't care so much about making my fortune as I do for getting ahead of the other fellows. I am more of a sponge than an inventor. I absorb ideas from every source. My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant but misdirected ideas of others.