The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: God, Great, Autobiography, Truth, Mind, Power
My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination, and make improvements and operate the device in my mind. When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.
—Nikola Tesla
I am credited with being one of the hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labor, for I have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. But if work is interpreted to be a definite performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I may be the worst of idlers.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Autobiography, Work
Be alone—that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.
—Nikola Tesla
But instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Effort, Knowledge, Autobiography, Doubt, Truth
A new idea must not be judged by its immediate results.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Autobiography, Results, New
Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Failure, Goodness
Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea is worked out mentally. In my mind I change the construction, make improvements, and even operate the device. Without ever having drawn a sketch I can give the measurements of all parts to workmen, and when completed all these parts will fit, just as certainly as though I had made the actual drawings. It is immaterial to me whether I run my machine in my mind or test it in my shop. The inventions I have conceived in this way have always worked. In thirty years there has not been a single exception. My first electric motor, the vacuum wireless light, my turbine engine and many other devices have all been developed in exactly this way.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Imagination
This work somehow awakened my dormant powers of will and I began to practice self-control. At first my resolutions faded like snow in April, but in a little while I conquered my weakness and felt a pleasure I never knew before—that of doing as I willed.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Work, Act, Power, Doing, Practice, Weakness, Control, Autobiography, New
My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labour and sacrifices made.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Belief, War, Autobiography
Every effort under compulsion demands a sacrifice of energy. I never paid such a price.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Effort, Energy, Autobiography
When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire, one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots.
—Nikola Tesla
Topics: Autobiography, War, Passion, Desire
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