Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.
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We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, read more
We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and read more
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.
The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible. read more
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.).
You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just read more
You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training. -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the unsolvable problem by inventing Nautilus.
The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? read more
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.
This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of read more
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.
Death is a law and not a punishment. Three things ought to console us for giving up life; the friends read more
Death is a law and not a punishment. Three things ought to console us for giving up life; the friends whom we have lost, the few persons worth of being loved whom we leave behind us, and finally the memory of our stupidities and the assurance that they are now going to stop.
Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy. -- Drillers whom Edwin read more
Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy. -- Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in 1859.
And now, in keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in blood and guts, in living read more
And now, in keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in blood and guts, in living color, you're about to see another first - an attempted suicide.
