Dean Kamen

When I'm told absolutely no, it's a definite maybe. ”

I started realizing that I wasn't so dumb; rather, most people simply didn't know the answers to the questions that I was interested in-or they didn't care. ”

I've never had a business plan. Every project we've ever done was the intersection of somebody with a real need, a real passion to do something, and hustling. ”

My plane is a Premiere; it has very efficient gas turbine engines. It goes very fast on relatively little fuel. Flying has been my passion since I was a kid. ”

I think an education is not only important, it is the most important thing you can do with your life. ”

Innovation is so hard and so frustrating; it takes the intersections of people with courage, vision, and resources. ”

Don't be irresponsible in your risks, but as long as the project can fail without it causing the person to fail, keep trying; keep taking the best shots. Learn from them; pick yourself up. ”

There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter. ”

If you're going to fail, you might as well fail at the big ones. ”

As a kid, I was less interested in the physical tinkering than thinking about what we would now call the physics, as opposed to the engineering. ”