I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready, and then it is inevitable. To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.

I make more mistakes than anyone else I know, and sooner or later, I patent most of them.

My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant - but misdirected - ideas of others.

Everyone steals in commerce and industry. I've stolen a lot, myself. But I know how to steal! They don't know how to steal!

I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.

My main purpose in life is to make money so I can afford to go on creating more inventions.