It is not a dream, it is a simple feat of scientific…
““It is not a dream, it is a simple feat of scientific electrical engineering, only expensive — blind, faint-hearted, doubting world! [...] Humanity is not yet sufficiently advanced to be willingly led by the discoverer's keen searching sense. But who knows? Perhaps it is better in this present world of ours that a revolutionary idea or invention instead of being helped and patted, be hampered and ill-treated in its adolescence — by want of means, by selfish interest, pedantry, stupidity and ignorance; that it be attacked and stifled; that it pass through bitter trials and tribulations, through the strife of commercial existence. So do we get our light. So all that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combatted, suppressed — only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle." – Nikola Tesla (at the end of his dream for Wardenclyffe)””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Innovative ideas often face ridicule, resistance, and hardship before gaining acceptance, especially when society lacks the means or willingness to support them.
In simple terms: Great ideas meet opposition before succeeding.
Persist despite opposition.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- entrepreneurship
- research funding
- public policy
- education
- media coverage
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we better support nascent technologies?
- What role does public perception play in scientific advancement?
Opposition can delay but not permanently block transformative breakthroughs.