Charles Kettering Quotes - Page 3

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• 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.

  Charles Kettering

  Men, Years, Ideas

  11 Copy quote

• Education is man's going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.

  Charles Kettering

  Ignorance, Thoughtful, Men

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• It is easy to build a philosophy - it doesn't have to run

  Charles Kettering

  Running, Philosophy, Easy

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• Why is the human skull as dense as it is? Nowadays we can send a message around the world in one-seventh of a second, but it takes years to drive an idea through a quarter-inch of human skull.

  Charles Kettering

  Years, Ideas, Skulls

  "Boss Ket: A life of Charles F. Kettering". Book by Rosamond McPherson Young, p. 194, 1961.

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• 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.

  Charles Kettering

  Destiny, Men, New Life

  Charles Franklin Kettering (1961). “Prophet of progress: selections from the speeches of Charles F. Kettering”

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• Nothing ever built arose to touch the skies unless some man dreamed that it should, some man believed that it could, and some man willed that it must.

  Charles Kettering

  Inspirational, Men, Sky

  Charles Franklin Kettering (1961). “Prophet of progress: selections from the speeches of Charles F. Kettering”

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• If we taught music the way we try to teach engineering, in an unbroken four year course, we could end up with all theory and no music. When we study music, we start to practice from the beginning, and we practice for the entire time.

  Charles Kettering

  Teaching, Engineering, Years

  20 Copy quote

• Learn how to fail intelligently.

  Charles Kettering

  Failure, Failing

  Charles Franklin Kettering (1961). “Prophet of progress: selections from the speeches of Charles F. Kettering”

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• If I want to stop a research program I can always do it by getting a few experts to sit in on the subject, because they know right away that it was a fool thing to try in the first place.

  Charles Kettering

  Science, Trying, Experts

  Charles Franklin Kettering (1961). “Prophet of progress: selections from the speeches of Charles F. Kettering”

  7 Copy quote

• A man must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere.

  Charles Kettering

  Inspirational, Creativity, Ignorance

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• I object to people running down the future. I am going to live all the rest of my life there.

  Charles Kettering

  Running, Future, People

  "Professional Amateur: The Biography of Charles Franklin Kettering". Book by Thomas Alvin Boyd, pp. 3-4, 1957.

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• I've never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.

  Charles Kettering

  Commitment, Persistence, Sitting Down

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• When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: "Leave slide rules here." If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it."

  Charles Kettering

  Feet, Achievement, Boss

  7 Copy quote

• The key to economic prosperity is the organized creation of dissatisfaction.

  Charles Kettering

  Keys, Prosperity, Creation

  "The End of Work" by Jeremy Rifkin, (p. 19), 1995.

  19 Copy quote

• It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world.

  Charles Kettering

  Life, Tattoo, Art

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• Thinking is one thing no one has ever been able to tax.

  Charles Kettering

  Science, Thinking, Taxation

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• Every honest researcher I know admits he's just a professional amateur. He's doing whatever he's doing for the first time. That makes him an amateur. He has sense enough to know that he's going to have a lot of trouble, so that makes him a professional.

  Charles Kettering

  Science, Firsts, Honest

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• In America we can say what we think, and even if we can't think, we can say it anyhow.

  Charles Kettering

  Ignorance, Knowledge, Science

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• 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).

  Charles Kettering

  Adversity, Achievement, Trying

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• I expect to spend the rest of my life in the future, so I want to be reasonably sure of what kind of future it's going to be. That is my reason for planning.

  Charles Kettering

  Want, Planning, Kind

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• 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.

  Charles Kettering

  Should Have, People, Too Late

  The Scientific American, p. 243, August 1934.

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• We must look forward to the future as that is where most of us will be spending the rest of our lives.

  Charles Kettering

  Looks, Spending, Our Lives

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• In many ways ideas are more important than people - they are much more permanent.

  Charles Kettering

  Ideas, People, Important

  Charles Franklin Kettering (1945). “Short Stories of Science and Invention”

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• You can send a message around the world in one-fifth of a second, yet it may take years for it to get from the outside of a man's head to the inside.

  Charles Kettering

  Leadership, Science, Men

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• I could do nothing without my problems; they toughen my mind. In fact, I tell my assistants not to bring me their successes for they weaken me, but rather to bring me their problems, for they strengthen me.

  Charles Kettering

  Mind, Assistants, Facts

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