Inspiring Engineering Quotes to Ignite Your Creativity

"Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world."

- Isaac Asimov

"Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it."

- Sir Henry Royce

"Never be limited by other people's imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination."

- Dr. Mae Jemison

"As engineers, we were going to be in a position to change the world – not just study it."

- Henry Petroski

"Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been."

- Theodore von Karman

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."

- Henry Ford

"The road to success is always under construction."

- Lily Tomlin

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

- Walt Disney

"Engineering is the closest thing to magic that exists in the world."

- Elon Musk

"One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions."

- Grace Hopper

"The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds."

- Theo Jansen

"What we usually consider as impossible are simply engineering problems... there's no law of physics preventing them."

- Michio Kaku

"Design is intelligence made visible."

- Alina Wheeler

"I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems."

- Elon Musk

"Design is not how it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

- Steve Jobs

"Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering."

- Bill Gates

"This job is a great scientific adventure. But it’s also a great human adventure."

- Fabiola Gianotti

"You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great."

- Zig Ziglar

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

- Mark Twain

"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems."

- Lee Iacocca

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"At its heart engineering is about using science to find creative practical solutions. It’s a noble profession."

- Queen Elizabeth II

"The engineer’s first problem in any design situation is to discover what the problem really is."

- Sir Henry Royce

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"Science is about knowing; engineering is about doing."

- Henry Petroski

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work."

- Steve Jobs

"Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going."

- Sam Levenson

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution."

- William A. Foster

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

- Charles Darwin

"Quality means doing it right when no one is looking."

- Henry Ford

"The ideal engineer is a composite … He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems."

- Nathan W. Dougherty

"Engineering: The art of organizing and directing men, and of controlling the forces and materials of nature for the benefit of the human race."

- Henry Gordon Stott

"The trick to having good ideas is not to sit around in glorious isolation and try to think big thoughts. The trick is to get more parts on the table."

- Steven Johnson

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."

- Henry David Thoreau

"Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man."

- Thomas Tredgold

"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration."

- Nikola Tesla

"I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy."

- Marie Curie

"The way to succeed is to double your failure rate."

- Thomas J. Watson

"We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us."

- Winston Churchill

"The scientist discovers a new type of material or energy and the engineer discovers a new use for it."

- Gordon Lindsay Glegg

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you."

- B.B. King

"The engineer has been, and is, a maker of history."

- James Kip Finch

"It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill."

- Wilbur Wright

"Learning to practice mechanical engineering is a lifetime assignment. New problems are continually demanding new analyses, new measurements, and new experiments for their solution."

- Charles F. Shoop

"Architects and engineers are among the most fortunate of men since they build their own monuments with public consent, public approval and often public money."

- John Prebble

"Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."

- John D. Rockefeller

"The ideal engineer is a composite… He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems."

- Nathan W. Dougherty

"If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe."

- Abraham Lincoln

"The economy of human time is the next advantage of machinery in manufactures."

- Charles Babbage

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems."

- Scott Adams

"Engineers, holding the title of builders of our modern world; they're the dreamers, problem-solvers, and perfectionists who continually push the boundaries of what's possible."

"To engineer is human; to create, divine."

"The fewer moving parts, the better."

"Engineering is not only a study of 45 subjects but it is a moral study of intellectual life."