To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. — Thomas Edison · Smartyfair

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To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. — Thomas Edison · Smartyfair

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

Thomas Edison1847–1931 · inventor · 1800s-1900s USAThomas Edison was one of America's most famous inventors, best known for creating a working light bulb.6 quotes

Source not found yetCreativity

In plain words

Inventing takes imagination and a heap of spare parts.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 45% sureLots of sources credit Thomas Edison with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Wikiquote-sourced only to a 1998 secondary robotics textbook (Behavior-Based Robotics by Ronald C. Arkin, p. 8); no primary interview or work located, held at likely.
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Wikiquote Sourced section (Date unknown), citing Behavior-Based Robotics (1998), p. 8.

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