ForumGarden

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

---Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Patent Office:1899

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."

---A Yale business prof in respones to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service.(Smith went on to found FedEx)

"But what... is it good for?"

---Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value."

---Western Union internal memo, 1876

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable whos falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."

---Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind

"Guitar, especially electric guitar music, will never catch on"

"Sorry Mr Epstein but we don`t think your Beatles have a chance of making it in the music industry" (Decca records executive, 1 January 1963)

I would just like to point out that sometimes it is a good idea to keep a less than wide open mind. The us patent office has a policy of immediate rejection for any perpetual motion machine as it violates laws of physics.

Having an open mind is good thing, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.