Charles Kettering
Charles Kettering (1876-1958) was an American inventor and engineer who held more than 180 patents, including the electric starter for automobiles, and led research at General Motors.
5 quotes in this collection. Read them below, share your favourites, or follow the related links to explore similar voices.
All quotes by Charles Kettering
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“The Wright brothers flew right through the smoke screen of impossibility.”
Meaning: Kettering, who worked alongside early aviation and engineering pioneers, praised the Wright brothers for ignoring experts who called flight impossible. Doubt can be a smoke screen rather than a wall. Test a claim of impossibility yourself with a small experiment before accepting it. -
“The whole fun of living is trying to make something better.”
Meaning: Kettering held that improvement was the real reward of work, not just the finished product. He saw invention as an enjoyable habit. Pick one routine in your week, such as a commute or a recipe, and tweak it to make it better. -
“It takes years to drive an idea through a quarter-inch of human skull.”
Meaning: Kettering joked that new ideas meet stubborn resistance from established thinking, so innovators need patience. If your proposal is brushed aside, repeat it with new evidence and a simple demonstration, and expect to persuade over months rather than minutes. -
“We think we are smart because we have been flying for about sixty years.”
Meaning: Quoted around 1961, Kettering noted that sixty years of flight is tiny compared with what remains to learn. Early success can breed overconfidence. After a win, ask what you still do not know, and keep learning as if you are just beginning. -
“You are always too late with a development if you are so slow that people demand it before you yourself recognize it.”
Meaning: Kettering, a General Motors research chief, wrote that innovators must anticipate needs rather than react to customer demands. By the time a request is loud, rivals are already building. At work, schedule time to explore tomorrow's problem before anyone asks you to.