"Remember, I am not trying to orbit the Earth. It is a simple elevator ride for 20 minutes"
About this Quote
The specific intent is to make a high-risk, high-cost invention feel legible to non-experts and non-believers. Twenty minutes is doing a lot of work: it implies repeatability, schedules, throughput, even customer service. It’s not a stunt; it’s infrastructure. The line quietly insists that the hard part isn’t the user experience, it’s the engineering hidden behind it. Great technology, the subtext goes, is what turns terror into boredom.
There’s also a defensive edge. “Remember” sounds like he’s been cornered by skepticism or sensational press, and he’s correcting the narrative before it metastasizes into sci-fi hype. Inventors learn fast that public imagination can be as dangerous as physics: overpromising invites ridicule, regulation, and investor whiplash. Walker’s phrasing tries to discipline expectations while still claiming audacity. If he can convince you it’s “simple,” you start arguing about logistics instead of impossibility - which is exactly where an inventor wants the conversation to land.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Walker, Brian. (2026, February 16). Remember, I am not trying to orbit the Earth. It is a simple elevator ride for 20 minutes. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/remember-i-am-not-trying-to-orbit-the-earth-it-is-135956/
Chicago Style
Walker, Brian. "Remember, I am not trying to orbit the Earth. It is a simple elevator ride for 20 minutes." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/remember-i-am-not-trying-to-orbit-the-earth-it-is-135956/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Remember, I am not trying to orbit the Earth. It is a simple elevator ride for 20 minutes." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/remember-i-am-not-trying-to-orbit-the-earth-it-is-135956/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.









