"I had gone to take a walk on a fine Sabbath afternoon, early in 1765... I was thinking upon the engine at the time... when the idea came into my mind that as steam was an elastic body it would rush in…"

"My great success in life has been owing to my having paid attention to every detail."

"Nothing man has discovered or imagined is to be named with the steam engine. It has no fellow."

"About 6 or 8 years ago My Ingenious friend Mr John Robinson having [contrived] conceived that a fire engine might be made without a Lever—by Inverting the Cylinder & placing it above the mouth of the …"

"The steam engine is my child, and I shall see it grow."