Charles Kettering

In America we can say what we think, and even if we can't think, we can say it anyhow.

We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee to fail intelligently... to experiment over and over again and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.

My definition of an educated man is the fellow who knows the right thing to do at the time it has to be done. You can be sincere and still be stupid.

Knowing is not understanding. There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.

I object to people running down the future. I am going to live all the rest of my life there.

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.

You can be sincere and still be stupid.

There will always be a frontier where there is an open mind and a willing hand.

There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.

The only time you mustn't fail is the last time you try.

Inventing is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less material you need.

The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.

People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones.

We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.

The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people understand the solution.

An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.

There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.

It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again.

No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.