Octave Chanute Quotes

The people of Sydney who can speak of my work [on flying-machine models] without a smile are very scarce; it is doubtless the same with American workers. I know that success is dead sure to come, and therefore do not waste time and words in trying to convince unbelievers.

The Wright brothers flew through the smoke screen of impossibility.

To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything.

The greatest thing on earth is a good idea!

If you're not failing all the time, you're not creating a situation where you can get lucky.

No other area offers richer opportunities for successful innovation than the unexpected success.

I've always believed that if you want to really try and make a great film, not a good film, but a great film, you have to take a lot of risks.

The world of tomorrow belongs to the person who has the vision for today.

I have not failed 10,000 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work.

To be successful, we need everyone to think independently and work through disagreement to decide what's best.

No one wants to learn from mistakes, but we cannot learn enough from successes to go beyond the state of the art.

Go where no one's gone and leave a trail of excellence behind you.

This machine was a failure to the extent that it could not fly. In other respects it was a very important and necessary stepping stone.

What matters is that you enjoy doing something creative. And I'm more and more seeing that as the key. That success and money or any sort of accolades are really not the experience of the journey. It's all about the process of building something.

[Her life with Tony Curtis in 1961:] We were beginning the climb to a higher plateau. Acceptance. Recognition. Status. Security. We only had to hold on and hope the thin air didn't make us dizzy and cause a tumble. We also needed to remember that the inside had to ascend together with the outside.

Prosperity belongs to those who learn new things the fastest.

I didn't just get an idea. I got a great idea.

If you want execution, hail only success. If you want creativity, hail risk, and remain neutral about success.

People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better.

True entrepreneurshi p comes only from risk-taking.

Entrepreneurs are visionaries - they see things other people don't see.

It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.

Geniuses are like thunderstorms: they go against the wind, terrify people, clear the air.

The only way forward in life is innovation.

You really need to believe that you are on to something important.