"Computers in the future may weigh no more then 1.5 tons"
--Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of technology....1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers"
--Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM....1943

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year"
--Editor in charge of business books for pretiss hall....1957

"But what is it good for?"
--Engineer at the advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM commenting on the microchip....1968

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
--Western Union internal memo....1876

"The wireless music box has no real commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
--David Sarnoffs associates (in response to his urgings for investment in the radio.....1924

"The concept is interesting and well formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C' the idea must be feasible, which your idea is not"
--A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service(Smith went on and founded Federal Express Corp)....1957

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
--H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers....1927

"I'm just glad it's be Clark Cable who is falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
--Gary Cooper on his decision to turn down the leading role in Gone With The Wind....1938

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."
--Response to Debbi Fields idea of starting Mrs. Fields Cookies....1942

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on it's way out."
--Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles....1962

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
--Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society....1895

"If I had thought about it, I would have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."
--Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives used in 3-M's "Post-it" notepads....1983

"So we went to Atari and said, "hey we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you, we just want to be involved in the production, they said NO, then we went to Hewlett Packard and they said, "hey we don't need you, you haven't been through college yet."
--Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs, on attempt to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer....1979

"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high school."
--New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard Revolutionary rocket work.

"You want to have a consistent and uniform muscle development across all of you muscles? It can't be done, it's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training."
--Response to Arthur Jones , who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus....1961

"Drill for oil?, you mean drill in the ground and try to find oil? You're crazy."
--Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to project to drill for oil in Texas....1859

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
--Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University....1929

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
--Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure d Gurre...1902

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
--Charles H Duell, Commissioner, U.S Office of Patents....1899

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
--Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse....1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeons."
--Sir John Eric Ericsen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria....1873

"640k ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates....1981