Quotes from chapter 1: The Beginning
The full chapter can be read here.
One idea at a time is about as much as any one can handle.
In those days we did not have the toys of to-day; what we had were home made. My toys were all tools–they still are! And every fragment of machinery was a treasure.
There is an immense amount to be learned simply by tinkering with things. It is not possible to learn from books how everything is made–and a real mechanic ought to know how nearly everything is made.
I felt perfectly certain that horses, considering all the bother of attending them and the expense of feeding, did not earn their keep.
That is the way with wise people–they are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations. That is why I never employ an expert in full bloom. If ever I wanted to kill opposition by unfair means I would endow the opposition with experts. They would have so much good advice that I could be sure they would do little work.
My father offered me forty acres of timber land, provided I gave up being a machinist.
I read everything I could find, but the greatest knowledge came from the work.
No work with interest is ever hard.
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