"Ere
many
generations
pass, our
machinery
will be
driven by
a power
obtainable
at any
point in
the
universe.
This idea
is not
novel. We
find it in
the
delightful
myth of
Antheus,
who
derives
power from
the earth;
we find it
among the
subtle
speculations
of one of
your
splendid
mathematicians.
Throughout
space
there is
energy. Is
this
energy
static or
kinetic.?
If static
our hopes
are in
vain; if
kinetic -
and this
we know it
is, for
certain -
then it is
a mere
question
of time
when men
will
succeed in
attaching
their
machinery
to the
very
wheelwork
of
nature."
- Nikola
Tesla
addressing
the
American
Institute
of
Electrical
Engineers,
1891
"There
manifests
itself in
the fully
developed
being -
Man - a
desire
mysterious,
inscrutable
and
irresistible:
to imitate
nature, to
create, to
work
himself
the
wonders he
perceives.
Long ago
he
recognized
that all
perceptible
matter
comes from
a primary
substance,
or tenuity
beyond
conception,
filling
all space,
the Akasa
or
luminiferous
ether,
which is
acted upon
by the
life
giving
Prana or
creative
force,
calling
into
existence,
in never
ending
cycles all
things and
phenomena.
The
primary
substance,
thrown
into
infintesimal
whirls of
prodigious
velocity,
becomes
gross
matter;
the force
subsiding,
the motion
ceases and
matter
disappears,
reverting
to the
primary
substance."
- Nikola
Tesla,
Man's
Greatest
Achievement,
May 13,
1907
"So
astounding
are the
facts in
this
connection,
that it
would seem
as though
the
Creator,
himself
had
electrically
designed
this
planet...."
- Nikola
Tesla
describing
what is
now known
as
Schumann
Resonance
(7.8Hz) in
The
Transmission
of
Electrical
Energy
Without
Wires As A
Means Of
Furthering
World
Peace,
Electrical
World And
Engineer,
January 7,
1905.
"
Invention
is the
most
important
product of
man's
creative
brain. The
ultimate
purpose is
the
complete
mastery of
mind over
the
material
world, the
harnessing
of human
nature to
human
needs."
"Of
all the
frictional
resistances,
the one
that most
retards
human
movement
is
ignorance,
what
Buddha
called
'the
greatest
evil in
the
world.'
The
friction
which
results
from
ignorance
can be
reduced
only by
the spread
of
knowledge
and the
unification
of the
heterogeneous
elements
of
humanity.
No effort
could be
better
spent."
"Universal
peace as a
result of
cumulative
effort
through
centuries
past might
come into
existence
quickly --
not unlike
a crystal
that
suddenly
forms in a
solution
which has
been
slowly
prepared."
"The
last 29
days of
the month
are the
hardest."
"No
matter
what we
attempt to
do, no
matter to
what
fields we
turn our
efforts,
we are
dependent
on power.
We have to
evolve
means of
obtaining
energy
from
stores
which are
forever
inexhaustible,
to perfect
methods
which do
not imply
consumption
and waste
of any
material
whatever.
If we use
fuel to
get our
power, we
are living
on our
capital
and
exhausting
it
rapidly.
This
method is
barbarous
and
wantonly
wasteful
and will
have to be
stopped in
the
interest
of coming
generations."
"The
scientific
man does
not aim at
an
immediate
result. He
does not
expect
that his
advanced
ideas will
be readily
taken up.
His work
is like
that of a
planter
for the
future.
His duty
is to lay
the
foundation
of those
who are to
come and
point the
way."
"Even
matter
called
inorganic,
believed
to be
dead,
responds
to
irritants
and gives
unmistakable
evidence
of a
living
principle
within.
Everything
that
exists,
organic or
inorganic,
animated
or inert,
is
susceptible
to
stimulus
from the
outside."
"Science
is but a
perversion
of itself
unless it
has as its
ultimate
goal the
betterment
of
humanity.
"We
are
confronted
with
portentous
problems
which can
not be
solved
just by
providing
for our
material
existence,
however
abundantly.
On the
contrary,
progress
in this
direction
is fraught
with
hazards
and perils
not less
menacing
than those
born from
want and
suffering.
If we were
to release
the energy
of the
atoms or
discover
some other
way of
developing
cheap and
unlimited
power at
any point
of the
globe this
accomplishment,
instead of
being a
blessing,
might
bring
disaster
to
mankind...
The
greatest
good will
come from
the
technical
improvements
tending to
unification
and
harmony,
and my
wireless
transmitter
is
preeminently
such. By
its means
the human
voice and
likeness
will be
reproduced
everywhere
and
factories
driven
thousands
of miles
from
waterfalls
furnishing
the power;
aerial
machines
will be
propelled
around the
earth
without a
stop and
the sun's
energy
controlled
to create
lakes and
rivers for
motive
purposes
and
transformation
of arid
deserts
into
fertile
land."
- Nikola
Tesla, My
Inventions:
the
autobiography
of Nikola
Tesla,
Hart
Bros.,
1982.
Originally
appeared
in the Electrical
Experimenter
Magazine
1919.
"War
cannot be
avoided
until the
physical
cause for
its
recurrence
is removed
and this,
in the
last
analysis,
is the
vast
extent of
the planet
on which
we live.
Only
through
annihilation
of
distance
in every
respect,
as the
conveyance
of
intelligence,
transport
of
passengers
and
supplies
and
transmission
of energy
will
conditions
be brought
about some
day,
insuring
permanency
of
friendly
relations.
What we
now want
is closer
contact
and better
understanding
between
individuals
and
communities
all over
the earth,
and the
elimination
of egoism
and pride
which is
always
prone to
plunge the
world into
primeval
barbarism
and
strife...
Peace can
only come
as a
natural
consequence
of
universal
enlightenment."
- Nikola
Tesla,
"My
Inventions:
the
autobiography
of Nikola
Tesla",
Hart
Bros.,
1982.
Originally
appeared
in the
Electrical
experimenter
magazine
in 1919.
"In
our dynamo
machines,
it is well
known, we
generate
alternate
currents
which we
direct by
means of a
commutator,
a
complicated
device
and, it
may be
justly
said, the
source of
most of
the
troubles
experienced
in the
operation
of the
machines.
Now, the
currents,
so
directed
cannot be
utilized
in the
motor, but
must -
again by
means of a
similar
unreliable
device -
be
reconverted
into their
original
state of
alternate
currents.
The
function
of the
commutator
is
entirely
external,
and in no
way does
it affect
the
internal
workings
of the
machines.
"In
reality,
therefore,
all
machines
are
alternate
current
machines,
the
currents
appearing
as
continuous
only in
the
external
circuit
during the
transfer
from
generator
to motor.
In view
simply of
this fact,
alternate
currents
would
commend
themselves
as a more
direct
application
of
electrical
energy,
and the
employment
of
continuous
currents
would only
be
justified
if we had
dynamos
which
would
primarily
generate,
and motors
which
would be
directly
actuated
by, such
currents."
- Adopted
from T.C.
Martin,
"The
Inventions,
Researches
and
Writings
of Nikola
Tesla,"
New Work:
Electrical
Engineer,
1894, pp.
9-11
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