David Sarnoff Quotes

A life that hasn't a definite plan is likely to become driftwood.

The thrill, believe me, is as much in the battle as in the victory.

The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.

Work and live to serve others, to leave the world a little better than you found it and garner for yourself as much peace of mind as you can. This is happiness.

Whatever course you have chosen for yourself, it will not be a chore but an adventure if you bring to it a sense of the glory of striving.

The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?

Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people

We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.

We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value.

Nobody can be a success if they don't love their work.

Don't be misled into believing that somehow the world owes you a living. The boy who believes that his parents, or the government, or any one else owes him his livelihood and that he can collect it without labor will wake up one day and find himself working for another boy who did not have that belief and, therefore, earned the right to have others work for him.

Research: the distance between an idea and its realization.

Success, in a generally accepted sense of the term, means the opportunity to experience and to realize to the maximum the forces that are within us.

Freedom is the oxygen without which science cannot breathe.

Atoms for peace. Man is still the greatest miracle and the greatest problem on earth.

If we are to become the masters of science, not its slaves, we must learn to use its immense power to good purpose. The machine itself has neither mind nor soul nor moral sense. Only man has been endowed with these godlike attributes. Every age has its destined duty. Ours is to nurture an awareness of those divine attributes and a sense of responsibility in giving them expression.

No man can be successful, unless he first loves his work.

Let us not paralyze our capacity for good by brooding of man's capacity for evil.

It is probable that television drama of high caliber and produced by first-rate artists will materially raise the level of dramatic taste of the nation.

Nobody can be successful if he doesn't love his work, love his job.

Atoms for peace. Man is still the greatest miracle and the greatest problem on earth. [Message tapped out by Sarnoff using a telegraph key in a tabletop circuit demonstrating an RCA atomic battery as a power source.]

The human brain must continue to frame the problems for the electronic machine to solve.

At their best, at their most creative, science and engineering are attributes of liberty-noble expressions of man's God-given right to investigate and explore the universe without fear of social or political or religious reprisals.

I ... began my career as a wireless amateur. After 43 years in radio, I do not mind confessing that I am still an amateur. Despite many great achievements in the science of radio and electronics, what we know today is far less than what we have still to learn.

A career, like a business, must be budgeted. When it is necessary, the budget can be adjusted to meet changing conditions. A life that hasn't a definite plan is likely to become driftwood.

Television is likely to do more to revolutionize politics than sound broadcasting did. Political candidates may have to adopt new techniques to benefit from visual radio: their dress, their smiles and gestures, all will be important. How they look, as well as what they say, may determine to an appreciable extent their popularity. The eyes of the public will be upon them.

An inventor is someone who makes another man rich.

Generally speaking, anything that the human mind can conceive can ultimately be produced.

I hitched my wagon to an electron rather than the proverbial star.

I have learned to have more faith in the scientist than he does in himself.