Edwin LandThe first thing you do is teach the person to feel that the vision is very important and nearly impossible. That draws out the drive in the winner.371Hope
Edwin LandWe took on things which people might think would take a year or two. They weren't particularly hard. What was hard was believing they weren't hard.362HumanityThought
Edwin LandAs I review the nature of the creative drive in the inventive scientists that have been around me, as well as in myself, I find the first event is an urge to make a significant in… ▶377Death
Edwin LandMy motto is very personal and may not fit anyone else or any other company. It is: Don't do anything that someone else can do. Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly im… ▶345Reading
Edwin LandPoliteness is the poison of collaboration.302Reading
Edwin LandA significant inventionmust be startling, unexpected. It must come to a world that is not prepared for it.325Reflection
Edwin LandWork only on problems that are manifestly important and seem to be nearly impossible to solve. That way you will have a natural market for your product and no competition.369Humanity
Edwin LandWe live in a world changing so rapidly that what we mean frequently by common sense is doing the thing that would have been right last year. ✨ Edwin Land's statement to… ▶315LifePolitics
Edwin LandIf you are able to state a problem - any problem - and if it is important enough, then the problem can be solved.3610Politics
Edwin LandAny problem can be solved using the materials in the room.337Love
Edwin LandLook, if the picture you get instantly is as beautiful as the picture you get by waiting seven days, then it is absolute madness to say that there is virtue in waiting.327Reading
Edwin LandOver the years, I have learned that every significant invention has several characteristics. By definition it must be startling, unexpected, and must come into a world that is not… ▶327Death
Edwin LandIt is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious. This is true not only for those who have not previously been acqua… ▶338Truth
Edwin LandDon't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible. ✨ The Vindication of Edwin Land. Forbes Magazine, Volume 139 (p. 83), May 4, 1987.305Death
Edwin LandThere's a rule they don't teach you at the Harvard Business School. It is, if anything is worth doing, it's worth doing to excess. ✨ Edwin Land's comment after a 1977 P… ▶3510Humanity
Edwin LandA mistake is an event, the full benefit of which has not yet been turned to your advantage.262Time
Edwin LandThe test of an invention is the power of an inventor to push it through in the face of staunch-not opposition, but indifference-in society.251HumanityPolitics
Edwin LandI have long aspired to make our company a noble prototype of industry, penetrating in science, reliable in engineering, creative in aesthetics and wholesomely prosperous in econom… ▶263Humanity
Edwin LandIntense concentration for hour after hour can bring out resources in people that they didn't know they had.285Humanity
Edwin LandIndustry is best at the intersection of science and art. ✨ Edwin Herbert Land (1983). Selected papers on industry319Humanity
Edwin LandThere is no such thing as group originality, group creativity or group perspicacity. ✨ Edwin Herbert Land (1983). Selected papers on industry297Truth
Edwin LandThe bottom line is in heaven! ✨ Speech at shareholders' meeting of Polaroid Corporation, 26 Apr. 1977253Humor
Edwin LandDo not do anything that anyone else can do readily. ✨ Edwin Herbert Land (1983). Selected papers on industry221Reading
Edwin LandI believe quite simply that the small company of the future will be as much a research organization as it is a manufacturing company. ✨ Edwin Herbert Land (1983). Selected p… ▶192HopeTimeTruth
Edwin LandMarketing is what you do when your product is no good.225Life
Edwin LandIf you dream of something worth doing and then simply go to work on it and don't think anything of personalities, or emotional conflicts, or of money, or of family distractions; i… ▶192Thought
Edwin LandScience is a method to keep yourself from kidding yourself.2610Time
Edwin LandAn invention that is quickly accepted will turn out to be a rather trivial alteration of something that has already existed.226Reading
Edwin LandWe have to keep in practice like musicians. Besides, there are still potentialities to be realized in color film. To us, it's just like bringing up a child. You don't stop after y… ▶249Reading
Edwin LandAnything worth doing is worth doing to excess.227Humanity
