Tim Ferriss Quotes

I'm sort of an experimenter; I thought it'd be interesting to play around and see what's there.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

I just like to experiment.

Scouting is like CIA work and investigative work. You create a lot of stuff and try a lot of stuff. Some works and some doesn't. I try to get creative.

Art and science have so much in common - the process of trial and error, finding something new and innovative, and to experiment and succeed in a breakthrough.

I try stuff. I synthesize what's of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.

I was always interested in figuring things out. I'd do experiments, like combining things I found around the house to see what would happen if I put them together.

Experimentation is an active science.

All progress is experimental.

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.

Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent.

I like to experiment a lot and invent things.

Basic research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.

For me, every one of our projects is a research-and-development project.

I don't have any particular recipe. It is the reason why doing research is challenging as well as attractive. It is like being lost in a jungle and trying to use all the knowledge that you can gather to come up with some new tricks, and with some luck, you might find a way out.

I'm just trying to experiment with a lot of different stuff and see what comes out of it.

Just build things and find out if they work.

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach.

I don't mind trying it out and making sure something seems to work well.

The first time you do something, it's science. The second time, it's engineering. The third time, it's just being a technician. I'm a scientist. Once I do something, I want to do something else.

I must keep on trying, just to keep the experiment going until I get tired of it all. Even if the last result is not necessarily the best, I stop when my interest in the problem wanes.

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.

In trying to make something new, half the undertaking lies in discovering whether it can be done. Once it has been established that it can, duplication is inevitable.

If you start your own thing, you can learn a lot really fast from doing things wrong.

Kids should be allowed to break stuff more often. That's a consequence of exploration. Exploration is what you do when you don't know what you're doing. That's what scientists do every day.