This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of read more

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

Don't worry, it's not loaded.

Don't worry, it's not loaded.

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a read more

Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.

The future is just old age and illness and pain.... I must have peace and this is the only way.

The future is just old age and illness and pain.... I must have peace and this is the only way.

All fled--all done, so lift me on the pyre;
The feast is over, and the lamps expire.

All fled--all done, so lift me on the pyre;
The feast is over, and the lamps expire.

I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not read more

I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime.

Death is a law and not a punishment. Three things ought to console us for giving up life; the friends read more

Death is a law and not a punishment. Three things ought to console us for giving up life; the friends whom we have lost, the few persons worth of being loved whom we leave behind us, and finally the memory of our stupidities and the assurance that they are now going to stop.