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The very essence of democracy is the absolute faith that while people must cooperate, the first function of democracy, its peculiar gift, is to develop each individual into everything that he might be.

Edwin Land

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Edwin Land
Age: 81 †
Born: 1909
Born: May 7
Died: 1991
Died: March 1
Entrepreneur
Inventor
Photographer
Physicist
Bridgeport
Connecticut
Edwin Land
Edwin Herbert Land
E.H. Land
Firsts
Develop
Everything
Gift
Function
First
Essence
Must
Democracy
Cooperate
People
Faith
Peculiar
Individual
Absolutes
Might
Absolute

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A mistake is a future benefit, the full value of which is yet to be realized.
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Profundity and originality are attributes of single, if not singular, minds.
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Aladdin in his most intoxicated moments would never have dreamed of asking his [djinn] for [a polaroid] ... It's utterly new in concept and appearance, utilizing an utterly revolutionary flash system, an utterly revolutionary viewing system, utterly revolutionary electronics, and utterly revolutionary film structure.
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I submit to you that when in each man the dream of personal greatness dies, democracy loses the real source of its future strength.
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Do not do anything that anyone else can do readily.
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I believe each incoming freshman [in college] must be started at once on his own research project if we are to preserve his secret dream of greatness and make it come true.
Edwin Land
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In a few wretched buildings, we created a whole new industry with international significance.
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Work only on problems that are manifestly important and seem to be nearly impossible to solve. That way you will have a natural market for your product and no competition.
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The world is like a fertile field that's waiting to be harvested. The seeds have been planted, and what I do is go out and help plant more seeds and harvest them.
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An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
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You cannot separate the composition from the life of the moment. It is all one thing, to be decided in a split second while you're living through it.
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The test of an invention is the power of an inventor to push it through in the face of staunch-not opposition, but indifference-in society.
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Over the years, I have learned that every significant invention has several characteristics. By definition it must be startling, unexpected, and must come into a world that is not prepared for it. If the world were prepared for it, it would not be much of an invention.
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Industry is best at the intersection of science and art.
Edwin Land
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In this country, there is an opportunity for the development of man's intellectual, cultural, and spiritual potentialities that has never existed before in the history of our species. I mean not simply an opportunity for greatness for a few, but an opportunity for greatness for the many.
Edwin Land
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The world belongs to the articulate.
Edwin Land
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My motto is very personal and may not fit anyone else or any other company. It is: Don't do anything that someone else can do. Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.
Edwin Land
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It is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious.
Edwin Land
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Don't do anything that someone else can do.
Edwin Land
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[A Polaroid camera] places before you a thing that is more of the thing than the thing was.
Edwin Land