The Quotable Edison

Thomas Edison was the "Wizard of Menlo Park." A prolific inventor and holder of numerous patents, he was also called a "magician," "the Napoleon of Science," and the "Inventor of the Age." But he was also a practical joker, a self-made man with a certain disdain for polite society, an ambitious explorer, and a public intellectual.

The Quotable Edison offers a wealth of his insightful, enlightening, and sometimes humorous comments and witticisms on a wide range of subjects, from business to politics, from religion to nutrition, from advice to boys to opinions on women’s clothing.

Famous for his dictum that "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration," Edison offered many other gems.

- On religion, "Satan is the scarecrow of the religious cornfield."
- On the English, "The English are not an inventive people; they don’t eat enough pie."
- On work and business, "I’ve been working two shifts most of my life. Lots of other men work two shifts too, but [they] devote the other one to poker."
- On the law, "A lawsuit is the suicide of time."

And his reported final words: "It’s very beautiful over there. "