If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.

— Orville Wright

If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance.

— Orville Wright

In just six weeks from the time the design was started, we had the motor on the block testing its power.

— Orville Wright

Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician.

— Orville Wright

The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall.

— Orville Wright

The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine. The control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center.

— Orville Wright

With all the knowledge and skill acquired in thousands of flights in the last ten years, I would hardly think today of making my first flight on a strange machine in a twenty-seven-mile wind, even if I knew that the machine had already been flown and was safe.

— Orville Wright

With twelve horsepower at our command, we considered that we could permit the weight of the machine with operator to rise to 750 or 800 pounds, and still have as much surplus power as we had originally allowed for in the first estimate of 550 pounds.

— Orville Wright