Alexander Graham Bell

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. Before anything else, preparation is the key to success. Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. The day will come when the man at the telephone will be able to see the distant person to whom he is speaking. Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. Don't keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Wherever you may find the inventor, you may give him wealth or you may take from him all that he has; and he will go on inventing. He can no more help inventing that he can help thinking or breathing. Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. Don't keep forever on the public road,going only where others have gone, and following one after the other like a flock of sheep. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. 'Every time you do so you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before. Of course it will be a little thing, but do not ignore it. Follow it up, explore all around it; one discovery will lead to another, and before you know it you will have something worth thinking about to occupy your mind. All really big discoveries are the results of thought. The achievement of one goal should be the starting point of another. What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it. A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself. Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do, you will be certain to find something you have never seen before. The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action. Man is the result of slow growth; that is why he occupies the position he does in animal life. What does a pup amount to that has gained its growth in a few days or weeks, beside a man who only attains it in as many years. Don't keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. You'll be certain to find something you have never seen before. The inventor...looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The Sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

1847 - 1922