10 Engineering Quotes to Spark Inspiration

January 12, 2017

Behind every aspect of modern life, there is an engineer, or a team of engineers, working long hours, from power plants to smartphones to generative AI to WiFi.

Clearly, engineers are transforming the world. Some engineers, however, are also inspiring wordsmiths. Check out this compilation of wise words from notable engineers, authors and inventors.

10 Engineering Quotes

“The scientist discovers a new type of material or energy and the engineer discovers a new use for it.” —Gordon Lindsay Glegg, British engineer and author
“This job is a great scientific adventure. But it’s also a great human adventure.” —Fabiola Gianotti, Higgs Boson physicist
“Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world.” —Isaac Asimov, American writer, professor of biochemistry
“The engineer has been, and is, a maker of history.” — James Kip Finch, American engineer and educator
“Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.” —Theodore von Karman, Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist
“The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” —Thomas J. Watson, pioneer in the development of computing equipment for IBM
“Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it.” —Sir Henry Royce, English engineer and car designer
We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” —Lee Iacocca, American engineer and automobile executive
“The ideal engineer is a composite … He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems.” —Nathan W. Dougherty, American civil engineer
“As engineers, we were going to be in a position to change the world – not just study it.”
—Henry Petroski, American engineer and author specializing in failure analysis

Learn more: Nikola Tesla remains one of the most inspiring engineers of all time, having invented the alternating current power system, the first remote-controlled device, and the radio, to name a few. Check out a list of Tesla’s famous quotes here.