“What we refer to as a great and special talent usually implies superiority that is expeditious rather than qualitative. In other words, it simply means doing quickly and with brilliant success what ordinary intellects carry out slowly but well. Instead of distinguishing between mediocre and great minds, it would be preferable and more correct in [...]
“Some time after his visit to the General Electric Laboratory, Edison, old free lance that he was, shook his head and declared that the ‘corporation laboratory’ would not do. The inventor was now a ‘hired person’ for the corporation, assigning to it all his patents; such men now worked in large groups and held many [...]
“When an associate came to him one day and in forthright language declared that a long series of tests had proved negative and that whole venture was a waste of labor and money, Edison rounded on him and cried angrily, ‘Is that all you have to say for yourself?’ and then walked out of the [...]