I also checked in with Fred Shapiro, the renowned expert and editor of the Yale Book Of Quotations - considered the most authoritative and complete quotation book in the world. He’s the Quote Investigator (QI) – a Magnum P.I for the quote world if you will, that is, if Magnum also had a PhD. “In my opinion Kate Sanborn's lectures were very important in the evolution and construction of the quotation that is now popularly attributed to Thomas Edison,” writes “Garson O’Toole” in an email to me. Within a month of Edison’s comments being published, several writers and speakers re-jigged his statements – and after clever re-writes (without his further input), this eventually culminated in the quote as we now know it.Įdison may have provided a ratio, but who deserves the credit? When probed on whether genius was inspired, he replied, “Bah! Genius is not inspired. Nevertheless, her definition may have found its way into the consciousness of a famous and influential contemporary: Thomas Edison.Įdison, later asked for his definition of genius is said to have answered, “2% is genius and 98% is hard work.” Sanborn was ridiculed in a newspaper editorial column that said she was “getting a lot of attention” for stating something so obvious.
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