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
It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world.
We have reason not to be afraid of the machine, for there is always constructive change, the enemy of machines, making them change to fit new conditions.
It is man's destiny to ponder on the riddle of existence and, as a byproduct of his wonderment, to create a new life on this earth.
An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.
There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to live the rest of our lives there.
I bought him an attractive bird cage made in Switzerland,
You are always too late with a development if you are so slow that people demand it before you yourself recognize it. The research department should have foreseen what was necessary and had it ready to a point where people never knew they wanted it until it was made available to them.
The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.
People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other people.
My definition of an educated man is the fellow who knows the right thing to do at the time it has to be done. You can be sincere and still be stupid.
If a fellow wants to be nobody in the business world, let him neglect sending the mailman to somebody on his behalf.
Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.