#invention

To me, innovations are the wheel, fire, language, movable type. There are not 3 million innovations; there are 3 million inventions. ↗

— Dean Kamen

#innovations #inventions #language #me #million

Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least, for they are thinking out inventions and forming in their minds the perfect idea that they subsequently express with their hands. ↗

— Giorgio Vasari

#express #forming #genius #hands #idea

Mothers are the necessity of invention. ↗

— Bill Watterson

#invention #mothers #necessity

In other words, what is supposedly found is an invention whose inventor is unaware of his act of invention, who considers it as something that exists independently of him; the invention then becomes the basis of his world view and actions. ↗

— Paul Watzlawick

#actions #basis #becomes #considers #exists

I think the two greatest inventions in the history of mankind are the remote control and the fingernail clipper. Now, if someone could just combine those two, I’d be very eager to clip my nails from across the room. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#funny #invention #surreal #funny

Photography is essentially an act of recognition by street photographers, not an act of invention. Photographers might respond to an old man’s face, or an Arbus freak, or the way light hits a building—and then they move on. Whereas in all the other art forms, take William Blake, everything that came to that paper never existed before. It’s the idea of alchemy, of making something from nothing. ↗

— Duane Michals

#art #invention #nothing #photography #surfaces

I am honored to be able to serve GM at this critical juncture and take part in its reinvention. ↗

— Edward Whitacre, Jr.

#am #critical #gm #honored #i

[...] there is one inexorable law of technology, and it is this: when revolutionary inventions become widely accessible, they cease to be accessible. Technology is inherently democratic, because it promises the same services to all; but it works only if the rich are alone using it. When the poor also adopt technology, it stops working. A train used to take two hours to go from A to B; then the motor car arrived, which could cover the same distance in one hour. For this reason cars were very expensive. But as soon as the masses could afford to buy them, the roads became jammed, and the trains started to move faster. Consider how absurd it is for the authorities constantly to urge people to use public transport, in the age of the automobile; but with public transport, by consenting not to belong to the elite, you get where you're going before members of the elite do. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#inventions #technology #transport #age

(The subjects of What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life) "have convinced me that past failing can as easily prove preparatory as predictive. Age does not of itself limit on enable us. The choice is ours. ↗

— Bruce Frankel

#inspirational #motivational #reinvention #retirement #successful-aging

I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention . . . arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble. ↗

— Agatha Christie

#laziness #trouble