Orville Wright

“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who... looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space... on the infinite highway of the air.”

“The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall.”

“If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”

“Isn't it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so we could discover them!”

“If birds can glide for long periods of time, then… why can't I?”

“We were lucky enough to grow up in a home where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual curiosity; to investigate whatever aroused their interest.”

“Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician.”

“It is not really necessary to look too far into the future; we see enough already to be certain that it will be magnificent.”

“With all the knowledge and skill acquired in thousands of flights in the last ten years, I would hardly think today of making my first flight on a strange machine in a twenty-seven mile wind...”

“The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine.”

“No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris.”