1 inspiration and 99 perspiration

Genius is largely the result of hard work, rather than an inspired flash of insight. Few proverbial sayings can be attributed to a named individual. In this case, we can name the coiner of the expression - the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison. Edison is first reported as saying "Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration" sometime around , in the September edition of Harper's Monthly Magazine. It is impossible to know at this remove whether the Harper's journalists were accurate in their attribution, although no one else appears to have uttered the words before they reported them in Edison may have come up with the neatest line but several others had expressed very similar thoughts before

Sebastian Thrun talks about the Google driverless car. Photo by Mackler Studios. This year the conference drew an eclectic mix of 1, creative professionals around one common theme: what brings good ideas to life? Inspired by the rich tapestry of experiences, I turned the question to the audience. Several common threads emerged after interviewing 25 participants.

Dear Quote Investigator: Thomas Edison is credited with a famous adage about creativity and innovation:. I found another quotation that specified a slightly different ratio of 2 percent to 98 percent. What did Edison actually say? His popular aphorism evolved over time. For example, in a newspaper in Massachusetts reacted to a statement by a prominent lecturer named Kate Sanborn. The newspaper indicated that sayings about the composition of genius were already being disseminated: 1.

In this case, we can name the coiner of the expression - the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison. Edison is first reported as saying "Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration" sometime around , in the September edition of Harper's Monthly.
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