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Article: The man who lit up the world: Thomas Edison changed the world through his ability, persistence -- and hard work. "Genius," he said, "is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration". (History: American Ingenuity).
- Article from:
- The New American
- Article date:
- June 30, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 American Opinion Publishing, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Thomas Alva Edison put it plainly: "I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work." And the man who lit up the world was indeed a worker. With little formal education, he was productively employed for 73 of his nearly 85 years (1847-1931).
According to the legend which Edison did little to alter, his sole teacher called him "addled," and said he was not worth schooling. The man who filed a patent on the average of every two weeks during the whole of his adult life enjoyed the tale. For his entry in Who's Who in America, he noted: "Received some instruction from his mother." And he once asserted that ...