Quotation Details

Quotation #22779 from Classic Quotes:

Everything that can be invented has been invented.
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899 (attributed)
 

Notes about this Quotation

  • This quotation is not really the words of Mr. Duell. There is a long-standing urban legend about a patent director making such a statement, and this particular version may have originated in "The Book of Facts and Fallacies" by Chris Morgan and David Langford (1981). There is no evidence that anyone in the patent office really said anything of the sort. [note by Michael Moncur, October 18, 2005]

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