Everything that can be invented has been invented. -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

Everything that can be invented has been invented. -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus
With tigery stripes, and a face on it
Round read more

I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus
With tigery stripes, and a face on it
Round as the moon, to stare up.
I want to be looking at them when they come
Picking among the dumb minerals, the roots.
I see them already-the pale, star-distance faces.
Now they are nothing, they are not even babies.
I imagine them without fathers or mothers, like the first gods.
They will wonder if I was important.

If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said read more

If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this. -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M Post-It Notepads.

And now, in keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in blood and guts, in living read more

And now, in keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in blood and guts, in living color, you're about to see another first - an attempted suicide.

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.

Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper. -- Gary Cooper, on read more

I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper. -- Gary Cooper, on his decision to not take the leading role in Gone With The Wind.

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.

The opera isn't over till the fat lady sings. - "The Washington Post", June 13, 1978.

The opera isn't over till the fat lady sings. - "The Washington Post", June 13, 1978.