“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”
– Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
– Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

“But what … is it good for?”
– Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
– Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”
– Western Union internal memo, 1876

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”
– David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
– H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”
– Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
– Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

“If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.”
– Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M “Post-It” Notepads

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.”
– Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre

“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction”.
– Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon”.
– Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873

“640K (of RAM) ought to be enough for anybody.”
– Bill Gates, 1981