Charles Kettering
Charles Kettering
Charles Franklin Ketteringwas an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco, and was head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947. Among his most widely used automotive developments were the electrical starting motor and leaded gasoline. In association with the DuPont Chemical Company, he was also responsible for the invention of Freon refrigerant for refrigeration and air conditioning systems. At DuPont he also was responsible for the development of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth29 August 1876
CityLoudonville, OH
CountryUnited States of America
An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.
There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.
It is the 'follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop.
Failures, repeated failures, are sign-posts on the road to achievement. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try something (and it works).
The only time you mustn't fail is the last time you try.
We need to teach the highly educated man that it is not a disgrace to fail and that he must analyze every failure to find its cause. He must learn how to fail intelligently, for failing is one of the greatest arts in the world.
If you're doing something the same way you have been doing it for ten years, the chances are you are doing it wrong.
One fails forward toward success.
We suffer not from overproduction but from undercirculation. You have heard of technocracy. I wish I had those fellows for my competitors. I'd like to take the automobile it is said they predicted could be made now that would last fifty years. Even if never used, this automobile would not be worth anything except to a junkman in ten years, because of the changes in men's tastes and ideas. This desire for change is an inherent quality in human nature, so that the present generation must not try to crystallize the needs of the future ones.
Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me.
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.
An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.
The difference between intelligence and an education is this-that intelligence will make you a good living.
We work day after day, not to finish things; but to make the future better ... because we will spend the rest of our lives there.