[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Genius Is Hard Work, Stick-To-It-Iveness, and Common Sense

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Entrepreneur and businessman Thomas Edison has received credit for the
following two quotations:

(1) I tell you genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common sense.

(2) The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are,
first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.

I was asked to trace these quotations. In 1910 Frank Lewis Dyer and
‎Thomas Commerford Martin published the two-volume authorized
biography "Edison: His Life and Inventions" which included the
following remarks about genius:

[Begin excerpt]
The idea of attributing great successes to "genius" has always been
repudiated by Edison, as evidenced by his historic remark that "Genius
is 1 per cent. inspiration and 99 per cent. perspiration." Again, in a
conversation many years ago at the laboratory between Edison,
Batchelor, and E. H. Johnson, the latter made allusion to Edison's
genius as evidenced by some of his achievements, when Edison replied:
"Stuff! I tell you genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common sense."
[End excerpt]

The biography author Dyer was the general counsel of the Edison
Laboratory and Martin was the former president of the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers.  Both authors were friends of
Edison, and Edison participated in the creation of the book as
discussed within an article printed in "The New York Times" in 1910:

[Begin excerpt]
Not only has he read every word of it, testing the statements in it by
original documents and a memory of stupendous retentiveness, but he
has furnished to it several hundred pages of autobiography, nearly all
of which is quoted in his own nervous and forceful language.
[End excerpt]

The crucial conversation containing the quotation was between Edison,
Batchelor, and Johnson. I do not know who described the conversation
to the authors of the biography. In any case, Edison reviewed the
text, and he endorsed the quotation; hence, I believe that the
quotation should be ascribed to Edison.

The variant statement containing the phrase "three great essentials"
was attributed to Edison in 1917 by journalist B. C. Forbes in the
book "Men Who Are Making America".

Here is a link to the article:

Quote Origin: Genius Is Hard Work, Stick-To-It-Iveness, and Common Sense
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/03/26/genius-work/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

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