“Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.”
– Charles F. Kettering
Momentum seldom comes without some sort of movement, and people who want to get anywhere in their lives will never do it while they’re at a standstill, no matter how patient they are. Inventor, engineer and former head of research at GM, Charles F. Kettering, tells us that in order to stumble onto anything, you’ve got to first be going.
Ideas do not often strike people while they’re waiting around, they strike people when the person is close to finding the idea, when they’ve started with a rough hypothesis, tested it, monitored results, and are ever closer to understanding how the mechanism works. If you are simply sitting down in waiting, then all you’ll ever know is what you already know – you’ll never be able to find anything new.
If you like quotes like this one, consider checking out one of our other quotes.
Related Reading: Remember that many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they quit.
Related Reading: Keep moving forward and seize what others miss — see the Thomas Edison opportunity quote.
What Charles Kettering Quotes Teach Us About Persistence
The best Charles Kettering quotes share a single thread: progress belongs to people who keep moving. Kettering built his life around action over hesitation, and his words still land because they describe how real breakthroughs actually happen — through trying, testing, failing, and trying again. If you are waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect idea, his message is blunt and freeing: start moving, and the discoveries will find you.
Who Was Charles F. Kettering?
Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) was an American inventor, engineer, and businessman who led research at General Motors for decades. He is best known for developing the electric self-starter that replaced the hand crank in automobiles, and he held a long list of patents over his career. Later in life he co-founded the cancer research center now known as Memorial Sloan Kettering. His quotes carry the weight of someone who actually built things rather than merely theorized about them.
More Charles Kettering Quotes Worth Remembering
A few of his most repeated lines capture his optimism and bias toward action:
- “My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.”
- “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
- “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
For more on turning persistence into results, see Thomas Edison’s reminder that he simply found 10,000 ways that won’t work, Steve Jobs on how the dots connect looking backward, and Earl Nightingale’s insight that we become what we think about. You can also learn why it pays to give up the good to go for the great and to never miss an opportunity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Charles F. Kettering?
Charles Kettering was an American inventor and engineer who ran research at General Motors and is credited with the automobile electric self-starter. He held many patents and later helped found a major cancer research institute.
What is Charles Kettering’s most famous quote?
One of his most quoted lines is, “Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something… I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down,” a classic call to take action.
What did Charles Kettering invent?
Kettering is best known for the electric self-starter for cars, and he contributed to many other engineering advances during his years leading research at General Motors.
For a fuller biography, see Britannica’s profile of Charles F. Kettering.
