Experts

Here’s another group of experts who made fools of themselves....

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible."
—A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
—Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."
—Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

"We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
—Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
—Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can’t be done. It’s just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training."
—Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy."
—Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
—Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
—Marschal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre in France.