You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
Charles KetteringRead
Inventing is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less material you need.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Inventing involves creativity and resourcefulness; using intelligence can reduce the necessity for physical materials.
In this quote, Charles Kettering emphasizes the important relationship between intellect and innovation. He suggests that the more we rely on our cognitive abilities—the 'brains' we utilize—the less we need to depend on physical inputs or materials to create something new. This highlights the power of ideas and creativity in the invention process, implying that innovative thinking is often more valuable than the resources at hand.
Themes
InventingCreativityInnovationIntelligenceResourcefulness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about innovation at a tech conference.
More from Charles Kettering
All quotes →It is the 'follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop.
Charles KetteringRead
When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: "Leave slide rules here." If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it."
Charles KetteringRead
A research problem is not solved by apparatus; it is solved in a man's head.
Charles KetteringRead
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
Charles KetteringRead
I often say that research is a way of finding out what you are going to do when you can't keep on doing what you are doing now.
Charles KetteringRead
Similar quotes
What matters is 'Have you done a better job of making our experiences feel like home on Windows?' That's our real goal, and that's what we're going to stay focused on.
Satya NadellaRead
As more intelligent computer assistance comes into being, it will amplify human progress.
Paul AllenRead
Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence.
Isaac AsimovRead
My goal wasn't to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers. I only started the company when I realized I could be an engineer forever.
Steve WozniakRead
The computer is the most extraordinary of man's technological clothing; it's an extension of our central nervous system. Beside it, the wheel is a mere hula-hoop.
Marshall McluhanRead
Many of the technologies that are now racing ahead most rapidly, replacing human workers in factories and offices with machines, making stockholders richer and workers poorer, are indeed tending to accentuate the existing inequalities in the distribution of wealth.
Freeman DysonRead