Charles Kettering Quotes

Charles Franklin Kettering sometimes known as Charles "Boss" Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco, and was head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947. Among his most widely used automotive developments were the electrical starting motor and leaded gasoline. In association with the DuPont Chemical Company, he was also responsible for the invention of Freon refrigerant for refrigeration and air conditioning systems. At DuPont he also was responsible for the development of Duco lacquers and enamels, the first practical colored paints for mass-produced automobiles. While working with the Dayton-Wright Company he developed the "Bug" aerial torpedo, considered the world's first aerial missile. He led the advancement of practical, lightweight two-stroke diesel engines, revolutionizing the locomotive and heavy equipment industries. In 1927, he founded the Kettering Foundation, a non-partisan research foundation. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine on January 9, 1933. Wikipedia  

✵ 29. August 1876 – 25. November 1958
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Charles Kettering: 11   quotes 0   likes

Famous Charles Kettering Quotes

“We find that in research a certain amount of intelligent ignorance is essential to progress; for, if you know too much, you won't try the thing.”

quoted in Professional Amateur: The Biography Of Charles Franklin Kettering, Thomas Alvin Boyd, 1957 page 106 ( Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/professionalamat013190mbp)

“A problem thoroughly understood is always fairly simple. Found your opinions on facts, not prejudices. We know too many things that are not true.”

As quoted in Dynamic Work Simplification (1971) by W. Clements Zinck, p. 122

“The whole fun of living is trying to make something better.”

As quoted in Dynamic Work Simplification (1971) by W. Clements Zinck, p. 12

“I am not worried about the future at all. I don't like to run it down. I don't like to think of it being too dark because I expect to spend all the rest of my life there and I don't want to have a nasty end to it.”

"Mr. Kettering's Talk", News and Views, General Motors Acceptance Corporation, General Exchange Insurance Corporation, Motors Insurance Corporation, 1936, p. 46 https://books.google.com/books?id=G2hEAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22the+rest+of+my+life+there%22
Variants:
I object to people running down the future. I am going to live all the rest of my life there, and I would like it to be a nice place, polished, bright, glistening, and glorious.
Quoted in Professional Amateur: The Biography of Charles Franklin Kettering, by T. A. Boyd 1957, pp. 3–4 ( Internet Archive https://archive.org/stream/professionalamat013190mbp/professionalamat013190mbp_djvu.txt, Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=42Ohg0wKaWsC&pg=PA4&dq=%22I+object+to+people+running+down+the+future%22)
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
Common, since 1947. Examples: Instruments and Control Systems, Volume 20, 1947, p. 374 https://books.google.com/books?id=gBonAAAAMAAJ&q=%22my+interest+is+in+the+future+because+i+am+going+to+spend+the+rest+of+my+life+there%22+kettering; " Biography: Charles Kettering http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/streamliners-kettering/", American Experience, PBS; The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives, by Eric Schmidt, , 2014, p. 337 https://books.google.com/books?id=SSWODQAAQBAJ&pg=PA337&q=kettering#v=onepage
Context: You know, you read about the future. You can't help that. I don't look upon the future. I am not a politician. I am not worried about the future at all. I don't like to run it down. I don't like to think of it being too dark because I expect to spend all the rest of my life there and I don't want to have a nasty end to it.

Charles Kettering Quotes

“The key to economic prosperity is the organized creation of dissatisfaction.”

As quoted in The End of Work (1995) by Jeremy Rifkin, p. 19

“Logic is a way of going wrong systematically.”

As quoted in [Heinich, Robert, Robert Heinich, 1970, Technology and the Management of Instruction - Monograph 4, https://books.google.com/books?id=l_wnDwAAQBAJ, Information Age Publishing, 2000, Greenwich, Connecticut, 34, 9781607529736, 6 May 2020, [...] Kettering's comment, 'Logic is a way of going wrong systematically' [...].]

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