Humanities › History & Culture Quotes of Alexander Graham Bell Share Flipboard Email Print Dorling Kindersley / Getty Images History & Culture Inventions Famous Inventors Famous Inventions Patents & Trademarks Invention Timelines Computers & The Internet American History African American History African History Ancient History and Culture Asian History European History Genealogy Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More By Mary Bellis Mary Bellis Inventions Expert Mary Bellis covered inventions and inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on July 03, 2019 Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor who was first to patent a successful telephone apparatus and later commercializes a domestic telephone network. To quote Alexander Graham Bell, we have to start with the first voice message ever transmitted, which was, "Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you." Watson was Bell's assistant at the time and the quote was the first sound of a voice ever transmitted by electricity. Alexander Graham Bell Quotes Wherever you may find the inventor, you may give him wealth or you may take from him all that he has; and he will go on inventing. He can no more help inventing that he can help thinking or breathing. The inventor looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. The spirit of invention possesses him, seeking materialization. Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself. When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it. America is a country of inventors, and the greatest of inventors are the newspaper men. The final result of our researches has widened the class of substances sensitive to light vibrations until we can propound the fact of such sensitiveness being a general property of all matter. Perseverance must have some practical end, or it does not avail the man possessing it. A person without a practical end in view becomes a crank or an idiot. Such persons fill our asylums. A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself. Concentrate all of your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. The most successful men, in the end, are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. Watson, if I can get a mechanism which will make a current of electricity vary in its intensity, as the air varies in density when a sound is passing through it, I can telegraph any sound, even the sound of speech. I then shouted into the mouthpiece the following sentence: Mr. Watson, Come here, I want to see you. To my delight, e came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said. I asked him to repeat the words. He answered, "You said, Mr. Watson, come here I want to see you." Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Bellis, Mary. "Quotes of Alexander Graham Bell." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/quotes-of-alexander-graham-bell-1991375. Bellis, Mary. (2020, August 28). Quotes of Alexander Graham Bell. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/quotes-of-alexander-graham-bell-1991375 Bellis, Mary. "Quotes of Alexander Graham Bell." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/quotes-of-alexander-graham-bell-1991375 (accessed March 23, 2023). copy citation Featured Video