Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”

Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.”

A man name Alfred (inventor of dynamite), one morning read his own obituary in a newspaper, who mistaken him of his brother's death. The title read: "Merchant of Death is Dead". Alfred was bothered by this comment, and realized that is not how he wanted to be remembered. Alfred Noble, would then later create the Noble Prize Awards.