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.
Thomas A. EdisonRead
I would construct and work along various lines until I found them untenable. When one theory was discarded, I developed another at once. I realized very early that this was the only possible way for me to work out all the problems.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of adaptability and resilience in problem-solving.
Thomas A. Edison reflects on his process of innovation, highlighting the necessity of flexibility in thought and the willingness to abandon theories that do not work. By acknowledging the iterative nature of his work, he teaches us that failure is simply a stepping stone to success and that persistent experimentation is crucial in resolving challenges.
Themes
AdaptabilityInnovationProblem-SolvingExperimentationResilience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech for entrepreneurs.
More from Thomas A. Edison
All quotes →If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas A. EdisonRead
I am a vegetarian as well as a passionate anti-alcoholic, because I can thus make better use of my brain.
Thomas A. EdisonRead
Genius is not inspired. Inspiration is perspiration.
Thomas A. EdisonRead
I didn't fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.
Thomas A. EdisonRead
There is no substitute for hard work.
Thomas A. EdisonRead
Similar quotes
If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also the power to bind, imprison and destroy.
Ralph EllisonRead
When I was growing up, my mother, who had been through a lot of terrible things in life, taught me that when life is tough your instinct is to close your heart. But if you can accept what happened and reach out to someone, there will always be someone less fortunate, or someone that can bring a solution and help your life.
Jane SeymourRead
He wanted to care, and he could not care. For he had gone away and he could never go back anymore. The gates were closed, the sun was down, and there was no beauty left but the gray beauty of steel that withstands all time. Even the grief he could have borne was left behind in the country of youth, of illusion, of the richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
An easy life does not make men, nor does it build nations. Challenges make men, and it is these men who build nations.
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al MaktoumRead
So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.
Albert EinsteinRead