Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you're working on.
Problems in human engineering will receive during the coming years the same genius and attention which the nineteenth century gave to the more material forms of engineering._x000D_ _x000D_ We have laid good foundations for industrial prosperity, now we want to assure the happiness and growth of the workers through vocational education, vocational guidance, and wisely managed employment departments. A great field for industrial experimentation and statemanship is opening up.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Edison emphasizes the importance of focusing on human factors in industry, akin to advancements in engineering.
Thomas A. Edison, in this quote, asserts that just as the nineteenth century revolutionized physical engineering, the future will bring significant attention to human engineering. He advocates for the development of vocational education and supportive employment structures to improve workers' happiness and growth, recognizing that the success of industries rests not only on material wealth but also on the well-being and development of the workforce.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about workforce development, I would reference this quote to emphasize the need for vocational training.
More from Thomas A. Edison
All quotes →If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
I am a vegetarian as well as a passionate anti-alcoholic, because I can thus make better use of my brain.
Genius is not inspired. Inspiration is perspiration.
I didn't fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.
There is no substitute for hard work.
Similar quotes
Competitive skills are desperately needed by poor children in America, and realistic recognition of the economic roles that they may someday have an opportunity to fill is obviously important, too. But there is more to life, and there ought to be much more to childhood, than readiness for economic functions.
To ask the proper question is half of knowing.
Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.
It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion.
Our priests and presidents, our surgeons and lawyers, our educators and newscasters need worry less about satisfying the demands of their discipline than the demands of good showmanship.
It is so important that British children are taught about the World Wars that their great grandparents fought in and lived through. It was a terrifying time.