Friday, February 4, 2011

Thought Du Jour



"
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."


--- Thomas Edison


If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search... I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.

--- Nikola Tesla


So, after reading Tesla's quote should Edison's quote be 1% genius, 9% perspiration? 90% theory + calculation or something else?

1 comment:

CapnG said...

I would say Edison would spend months designing a complex machine that sorts needles from hay, whereas Tesla would simply incinerate the haysatck with lightning. Both solutions slove the problem but one is much faster.