The Inventor as Philosopher
Thomas Edison is a man I have quoted for many years beginning with his attitude about the multi-step process to success: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I still use that line a lot when I am training staff to work with people with Alzheimer’s disease or encouraging anyone who fears making a mistake.
But like all of us, Thomas Edison was a man of contradictions. He was noted on the one hand for a series of quotes related to working hard which culminate in this brief rhyme:
“His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define;
Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.”
On the other hand, he famously said, “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun,” and “I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.”
At the same time, he – not the men who worked for him – held all the patents and won all the acclaim. Another famous inventor, Nikola Tesla, worked as an assistant to Edison for a time. According to Wikipedia (and other sources) Edison promised Tesla $50,000 if he succeeded in making improvements to his DC generation plants, but when Tesla did so in just a few months time and asked to be paid, Edison said, “When you become a full-fledged American you will appreciate an American joke.” Nor would Edison raise Tesla’s salary from $18 per week to $25 as a reward for his good work. Not surprisingly, Tesla resigned and remained a lifelong critic, accusing Edison of being unhygienic, uncaring for amusement of any kind and hugely inefficient, refusing to recognize that “just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90% of the labour.”
So what is the point? Simply that while none of us live up to our best words, they are still worth striving for. Thomas Edison said the three greatest qualities were mercy, kindness and love. When he was asked to be a naval consultant during World War I, he said he would only work on defensive weapons. He was a strong proponent of non-violence who said, “I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill,” and “Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”
That he sometimes failed, only makes him human. He’s still worth quoting.
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