'You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.' - Robert Darwin, to his son Charles

'Aeroplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value.' - Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy

'Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.' - Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

'The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.' - Sir John Ericksen, appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, in 1873

'Everything that can be invented has been invented.' - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899

'There is no likelihood that man can ever tap the power of the atom.' - Robert Milikan, Nobel Prizewinner in Physics, 1923

'People will get tired of staring into a plywood box every night.' - Darryl F. Zanuck, head of Twentieth-Century Fox, about television in 1946

'I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year.' - The editor in charge of business books for Prentice-Hall, in 1957

'There is no reason why anyone would want to have a computer in their home.' - Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., in 1977

'640K ought to be enough for anybody.' - Bill Gates, 1981