--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every machine has had the same history –…" description: "\"“Every machine has had the same history – a long record of sleepless nights and of poverty, of disillusions and of joys, of partial improvements discov..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_computers_every-machine-has-had-the-same-history-a_1215508.jpg" --- # Every machine has had the same history – a long record of… ![“Every machine has had the same history – a long record of sleepless nights and of poverty, of disillusions and of joys, of partial improvements discovered by several generations of nameless workers, who have added to the original invention these little nothings, without which the most fertile idea…” quote by Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_computers_every-machine-has-had-the-same-history-a_1215508.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_computers_every-machine-has-had-the-same-history-a_1215508.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_computers_every-machine-has-had-the-same-history-a_1215508.jpg) > ““Every machine has had the same history – a long record of sleepless nights and of poverty, of disillusions and of joys, of partial improvements discovered by several generations of nameless workers, who have added to the original invention these little nothings, without which the most fertile idea would remain fruitless. More than that: every new invention is a synthesis, the resultant of innumerable inventions which have preceded it in the vast field of mechanics and industry. Science and industry, knowledge and application, discovery and practical realization leading to new discoveries, cunning of brain and of hand, toil of mind and muscle – all work together. Each discovery, each advance, each increase in the sum of human riches, owes its being to the physical and mental travail of the past and the present. By what right then can anyone whatever appropriate the least morsel of this immense whole and say – This is mine, not yours?”” [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human progress builds on countless incremental contributions from many unnamed workers, making any claim of sole ownership unjustified. **In simple terms:** Ideas grow through many small improvements by many people. Key Takeaway Recognize collective effort in innovation. Themes collaboration innovation history ethics labor Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - research labs - industrial design - open source projects - academic publishing Key Concepts collective intelligence cumulative knowledge intellectual property Questions to Reflect On - How can societies reward individual creators while acknowledging collective input? - What systems best honor shared contributions? A Different Perspective Progress can be slowed by disputes over credit and ownership. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Innovation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innovation/) [Invention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invention/) [Sleepless night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleepless-night/) [Sleepless nights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleepless-nights/) [Work together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work-together/) ## Related quotes > [Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/necessity-first-mothered-invention-now-invention-has-little-ones-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [“Shall I speak of the consequence One, that your attention causes? Words you utter keep me stunned, My heart stops up at your gazes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zubair-ahsan/shall-i-speak-of-the-consequence-one-that-your-attention-causes-words/) [Zubair Ahsan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zubair-ahsan/) > [Every step I take, every tear that was shedded, all those sleepless nights,u never loved me, u left me, u left my heart and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alivia/every-step-i-take-every-tear-that-was-shedded-all-those-sleepless/) [Alivia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alivia/) > [You can't force other people to like you and you just kind of have to ride the wave. I think I could have saved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lena-dunham/you-can-t-force-other-people-to-like-you-and-you-just-kind-of-have-to/) [Lena Dunham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lena-dunham/) > [“Healthy Choices Hold still Keep quiet. Get a degree to learn how to talk saying nothing. Catch a good man by being demure. the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janice-mirikitani/healthy-choices-hold-still-keep-quiet-get-a-degree-to-learn-how-to/) [Janice Mirikitani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janice-mirikitani/) > [If I lose a match, I don't get sad or feel down. But if I lose a close match, I surely have sleepless nights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jwala-gutta/if-i-lose-a-match-i-don-t-get-sad-or-feel-down-but-if-i-lose-a-close/) [Jwala Gutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jwala-gutta/) > [Like all those days and weeks and months I tried to steal a kiss And all those sleepless nights and daydreams where I pictured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemis-khan/like-all-those-days-and-weeks-and-months-i-tried-to-steal-a-kiss-and/) [Kemis Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemis-khan/) > [Impossible to spend sleepless nights and accomplish anything: if, in my youth, my parents had not financed my insomnias, I should surely have killed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/impossible-to-spend-sleepless-nights-and-accomplish-anything-if-in-my/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [“In spite of the horror, in spite of the tragedy, in spite of the weeks of sleepless nights, I'm finally alive. I'm not pretending.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-bass/in-spite-of-the-horror-in-spite-of-the-tragedy-in-spite-of-the-weeks/) [Ellen Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-bass/) > [“I am back in my beloved city. The scene of desolation fills my eyes with tears. At every step my distress and agitation increases.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khushwant-singh/i-am-back-in-my-beloved-city-the-scene-of-desolation-fills-my-eyes/) [Khushwant Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khushwant-singh/) > [He'll probably wake up having sleepless nights about that one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-parry/he-ll-probably-wake-up-having-sleepless-nights-about-that-one/) [Alan Parry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-parry/) > [“To tell you the truth, sleepless nights are as unusual for me as sumo wrestlers who look good in berets.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/to-tell-you-the-truth-sleepless-nights-are-as-unusual-for-me-as-sumo/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [Ya. I'm young but ive been through hell my heart has duck tape and staples barley hinging on sleepless nights staying up crying blaming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiana-awong/ya-i-m-young-but-ive-been-through-hell-my-heart-has-duck-tape-and/) Kiana Awong > [“Success is a visible outcome of invisible sweat, and sleepless nights. It is found in the small moments of persistence that build up over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gift-gugu-mona/success-is-a-visible-outcome-of-invisible-sweat-and-sleepless-nights/) [Gift Gugu Mona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gift-gugu-mona/) > [“The other part of her wanted it over now.  No more sleepless nights, wondering what was going to take him away from her in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kasi-blake/the-other-part-of-her-wanted-it-over-now-no-more-sleepless-nights/) Kasi Blake ## More by Pyotr Kropotkin > [“Wage-work is serf-work; it cannot, it must not, produce all that it could produce. And it is high time to disbelieve the legend which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/wage-work-is-serf-work-it-cannot-it-must-not-produce-all-that-it/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“They say, 'No private property', and immediately after strive to maintain private property in its daily manifestations. 'You shall be a commune as far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/they-say-no-private-property-and-immediately-after-strive-to-maintain/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Because, to do manual work now, means in reality to shut yourself up for ten or twelve hours a day in an unhealthy workshop,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/because-to-do-manual-work-now-means-in-reality-to-shut-yourself-up/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“In our civilized societies we are rich. Why then are the many poor? Why this painful drudgery for the masses? Why, even to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/in-our-civilized-societies-we-are-rich-why-then-are-the-many-poor-why/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“No, plenty for all is not a dream – though it was a dream indeed in those days when man, for all his pains,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/no-plenty-for-all-is-not-a-dream-though-it-was-a-dream-indeed-in/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Whole columns are devoted to parliamentary debates and to political intrigues; while the vast everyday life of a nation appears only in the columns…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/whole-columns-are-devoted-to-parliamentary-debates-and-to-political/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“All that was once looked on as a function of the government is today called in question. Things are arranged more easily and more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/all-that-was-once-looked-on-as-a-function-of-the-government-is-today/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Very often the idler is but a man to whom it is repugnant to spend all his life making the eighteenth part of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/very-often-the-idler-is-but-a-man-to-whom-it-is-repugnant-to-spend/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“What interest, in fact, can this depressing work have for the worker, when he knows that the fate awaiting him from the cradle to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/what-interest-in-fact-can-this-depressing-work-have-for-the-worker/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“The history of human thought recalls the swinging of a pendulum which takes centuries to swing. After a long period of slumber comes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/the-history-of-human-thought-recalls-the-swinging-of-a-pendulum-which/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Should an authoritarian Socialist society ever succeed in establishing itself, it could not last; general discontent would soon force it to break up, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/should-an-authoritarian-socialist-society-ever-succeed-in/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Well-being for all is not a dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/well-being-for-all-is-not-a-dream/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Collectivists begin by proclaiming a revolutionary principle - the abolition of private property - and then they deny it, no sooner than proclaimed, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/collectivists-begin-by-proclaiming-a-revolutionary-principle-the/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Poverty, we have said elsewhere, was the primary cause of wealth. It was poverty that created the first capitalist; because, before accumulating "surplus value,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/poverty-we-have-said-elsewhere-was-the-primary-cause-of-wealth-it-was/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“That we are utopians is well known. So utopian are we that we go the length of believing that the revolution can and ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/that-we-are-utopians-is-well-known-so-utopian-are-we-that-we-go-the/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) [Explore all 41 Pyotr Kropotkin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) ## More Computers quotes > [I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-don-t-understand-why-we-re-all-connected-wirelessly-via-a-little/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [“Probably it goes without saying, but time machine guys don't get a lot of action. Had a one night stand with something cute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/probably-it-goes-without-saying-but-time-machine-guys-don-t-get-a-lot/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Issac:"I dislike living in a world without Augustus Waters." Computer: "I don't understand-" Issac: "Me neither. Pause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/issac-i-dislike-living-in-a-world-without-augustus-waters-computer-i/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Note found in the patron suggestion box: "You have SIGNS up near the computers that say BE QUIET, but people don't be quiet. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-sheridan/note-found-in-the-patron-suggestion-box-you-have-signs-up-near-the/) [Gina Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-sheridan/) > [“You weren't born to be a cog in the giant industrial machine. You were trained to become a cog. There's an alternative available to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/you-weren-t-born-to-be-a-cog-in-the-giant-industrial-machine-you-were/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [The corporate state is an immensely powerful machine, ordered, legalistic, rational, yet utterly out of human control, wholly and perfectly indifferent to any human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/the-corporate-state-is-an-immensely-powerful-machine-ordered/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) > [The display is the computer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-hsun-huang/the-display-is-the-computer/) Jen-Hsun Huang > [The popular mind often pictures gigantic flying machines speeding across the Atlantic carrying innumerable passengers in a way analogous to our modern steam ships.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-henry-pickering/the-popular-mind-often-pictures-gigantic-flying-machines-speeding/) William Henry Pickering > [“Alan Turing proposed the Turing Test: a computer is intelligent if you can't tell it from a human when you talk with it. No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cjs-hayward/alan-turing-proposed-the-turing-test-a-computer-is-intelligent-if-you/) [CJS Hayward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cjs-hayward/) > [Computers can be taught that certain tune or certain chords changes will sound pleasant together, but I don't think it's going to reach a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonobo/computers-can-be-taught-that-certain-tune-or-certain-chords-changes/) [Bonobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonobo/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [“According to this model, human beings are, at least in one aspect, sensation-receiving machines; and although our receptory apparatus is competent to select and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cruce-stark/according-to-this-model-human-beings-are-at-least-in-one-aspect/) Cruce Stark > [As in any machine, all the wires must be connected to the mains through one main wire. In the same way, you all must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/as-in-any-machine-all-the-wires-must-be-connected-to-the-mains/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) [Browse all 9,389 Computers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Every machine has had the same history – a long record of sleepless nights and of poverty, of disillusions and of joys, of partial improvements discovered by several generations of nameless workers, who have added to the original invention these little nothings, without which the most fertile idea would remain fruitless. More than that: every new invention is a synthesis, the resultant of innumerable inventions which have preceded it in the vast field of mechanics and industry. Science and industry, knowledge and application, discovery and practical realization leading to new discoveries, cunning of brain and of hand, toil of mind and muscle – all work together. Each discovery, each advance, each increase in the sum of human riches, owes its being to the physical and mental travail of the past and the present. 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