my inventions the autobiography of nikola tesla

(I will explain my remark about my earth parents later.) We owned a horse which had been presented to us by a dear friend. His premature death left my earth parents disconsolate. In the first place I had a brother who was gifted to an extraordinary degree, one of those rare phenomena of mentality which biological investigation has failed to explain. But not until I had attained manhood did I realize that I was an inventor. Indeed, I feel now that had I understood and cultivated instead of suppressing them, I would have added substantial value to my bequest to the world.

But those early impulses, though not immediately productive, are of the greatest moment and may shape our very destinies. As we grow older, reason asserts itself and we become more and more systematic and designing.

Our first endeavors are purely instinctive promptings of an imagination vivid and undisciplined. In attempting to give a connected and faithful account of my activities in this story of my life, I must dwell, however reluctantly, on the impressions of my youth and the circumstances and events which have been instrumental in determining my career. On the contrary, I have thrived on my thoughts. But if work is interpreted to be a definite performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I may be the worst of idlers.Įvery effort under compulsion demands a sacrifice of life-energy. I am credited with being one of the hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labor, for I have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. Speaking for myself, I have already had more than my full measure of this exquisite enjoyment so much, that for many years my life was little short of continuous rapture. But he finds ample compensation in the pleasing exercises of his powers and in the knowledge of being one of that exceptionally privileged class without whom the race would have long ago perished in the bitter struggle against pitiless elements. This is the difficult task of the inventor who is often misunderstood and unrewarded. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of the forces of nature to human needs. It is the most important product of his creative brain. The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention.

My inventions the autobiography of nikola tesla