The Wright Brothers

by David McCullough

What the two had in common above all was unity of purpose and unyielding determination.

“Pick out a good father and mother, and begin life in Ohio.”

All the money anyone needs is just enough to prevent one from being a burden on others.

“The man who wishes to keep at the problem long enough to really learn anything positively must not take dangerous risks. Carelessness and overconfidence are usually more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.

We believed in a good God, a bad Devil, and a hot Hell, and more than anything else we believed that same God did not intend man should ever fly.”

“The best dividends on the labor invested,” they said, “have invariably come from seeking more knowledge rather than more power.”

Wilbur turned his cap backward, and to Berg, Bollée, and the others said quietly, “Gentlemen, I’m going to fly.”

“All the money anyone needs is just enough to prevent one from being a burden to others.”