From “Foolish words” by Laura Ward. On the subject of history – and the beauty of 20/20 and hindsight.

Mind you, people are never very receptive to innovation. Electric light will never take the place of gas.
Werner Von Siemens, engineer and inventor, 1890. He went on to found the multi-national Siemens corporation.

The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who looks for a source of power in the transformation of the atom is talking moonshine.
Lord Ernest Rutherford, after splitting the atom, September 1933.

It is impossible to transmit speech electrically. The “telephone” is as mythical as the unicorn.
Professor Johann Christian Poggendorrf, German physicist and chemist, 1860.

No audience will ever be able to take more than ten minutes of animation.
Walt Disney executive, considering the viability of an animated movie called Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.