Quotes ... Thabks Ramey Hoskins!

Famous Quotes from: Alden Scott 

** **

*"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific

advances."*      *-- Dr. Lee DeForest*, "Father of Radio *&* Grandfather of

Television."

*

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."*         *-

- Admiral William Leahy* , US Atomic Bomb Project

*

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."*         *--

Robert Millikan*, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

*

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."*      *--

Popular Mechanics*, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

*

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ."*   -- *Thomas

Watson*, chairman of IBM, 1943 [Oddly enough it was IBM that also saw

little use for what became the Xerox copy machine many decades later and

refused to fund its development.

*

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the

best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't

last out the year."* -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice

Hall, 1957

*

"But what is it good for?"* -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems

Division of IBM, 1968, *commenting on the microchip.*

*

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."* *       

-- Bill Gates, 1981 *

*

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a

means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us,"*

-- *Western Union*internal memo, 1876.

*

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay

for a message sent to nobody in particular?"* *-- David Sarnoff's

associates in response to his urgings* for investment in the radio in the

1920s.

*

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better

than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible,"* -- A *Yale University management

professor* in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight

delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

*

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary

Cooper,"* -- *Gary Cooper* on his decision *not *to take the leading role

in "Gone With The Wind."

*

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say

America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make,"*

-- *Response to Debbi Fields' idea* of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

*

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out,"* -- *Decca

Recording Co. rejecting* the *Beatles, 1962*.

*

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,"* -- *Lord Kelvin*,

president, Royal Society, 1895.

*

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The

literature was full of examples that said you can't do this,"* - - *Spencer

Silver* on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It"

Notepads .

*

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're

crazy,"* -- *Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist* to his project to

drill for oil in 1859.

*

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."* - - *Irving

Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University , 1929*.

*

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value,"* -- *Marechal

Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre , France

. *

*

"Everything that can be invented has been invented,"* --*Charles H. Duell,

Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899*.

*

"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the

water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the

number of vacuum tubes required."* -- Professor of Electrical Engineering,

New York University

*

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make

copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by

itself."* -- *the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea*, forcing the

inventor to found Xerox.

*

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."*      -- *Pierre

Pachet*, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse , 1872

*

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the

intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon,"***** 

 -- *Sir John Eric Ericksen*, British surgeon, appointed

Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873****

*And last but not least....*

*

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."*****

  -- *Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,

1977* ****

 ****

=============