"What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it"
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Bell’s “power” is a sly bit of engineering mysticism: he refuses to name the force, then immediately specifies the conditions under which it reliably shows up. That dodge does real work. By leaving the mechanism blank, he turns perseverance into something that feels larger than personality - a current you can plug into, not a virtue you simply “have.” It’s motivational language, yes, but it’s also an inventor’s way of describing a pattern he’s watched repeat in labs and workshops: breakthroughs don’t arrive to the casually curious; they visit the stubborn.
The key phrase is “exactly what he wants.” Bell isn’t praising vague hustle. He’s arguing that clarity is the switch that makes effort efficient. In a culture that often treats grit as moral heroism, he frames it as precision: define the target, then refuse the off-ramp. The subtext is almost transactional - reality yields when your intent stops wobbling.
Context sharpens the edge. Bell lived in the thick of late-19th-century patent races, where “invention” was rarely a lone eureka and more often an endurance contest of prototypes, funding, rivals, and legal combat. “Power” reads like a polite substitute for the unromantic machinery behind innovation: sustained attention, iterative failure, and the social leverage that comes when others can’t outlast you. He makes determination sound spiritual, but he’s really describing a discipline that converts time into results.
The key phrase is “exactly what he wants.” Bell isn’t praising vague hustle. He’s arguing that clarity is the switch that makes effort efficient. In a culture that often treats grit as moral heroism, he frames it as precision: define the target, then refuse the off-ramp. The subtext is almost transactional - reality yields when your intent stops wobbling.
Context sharpens the edge. Bell lived in the thick of late-19th-century patent races, where “invention” was rarely a lone eureka and more often an endurance contest of prototypes, funding, rivals, and legal combat. “Power” reads like a polite substitute for the unromantic machinery behind innovation: sustained attention, iterative failure, and the social leverage that comes when others can’t outlast you. He makes determination sound spiritual, but he’s really describing a discipline that converts time into results.
Quote Details
| Topic | Never Give Up |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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