… good enough for our transatlantic friends… but unworthy of practical or scientific men.

Report of a committee of the British Parliament on the idea of an incandescent lamp, 1878

Electric power is everywhere present in unlimited quantities and can drive the world’s machinery without the need of coal, oil, gas, or any other of the common fuels.

Nicola Tesla

… I do not think there is the slightest chance of its [electricity] competing, in a general way, with gas. There are defects about the electric light which, unless some essential changes take place, must entirely prevent its application to ordinary lighting purposes.

Select Committee on Lighting by Electricity, British House of Commons, 1879