[kinoxi]

his stubborn determination led him to succeed(and fail as you pointed out). read the original post, he must've got it from his mother.

[Clintonfatigued]

Clearly, it was from his mother that he inherited his knack for creative thinking and seeking new ways of doing things. She was highly intelligent herself and displayed creative and unorthodox thinking in her approaches to schooling him.

[Reily]

I do admire his stubborn determination.
What I don't admire is how it on occasion manifested itself in acts of outright dishonesty. During his battles with Westinghouse he paid newspaper writers to claim that AC power was dangerous and shouldn't be considered as a way to deliver electric power to the home and to industry. Another rival that Edison unfairly attacked was Charles P Steinmetz. Again the ploy was not to attack the work on its technical merits but mostly spread gossip and bring up the fact that Steinmetz was hunchbacked, foreign-born and a Jew. The same was true with Tesla. (Though Tesla was so weird that he was an easy target!) I don't think Edison actually understood the physical principles behind their work well enough to compete with it on a level playing field. It was easier for Edison to use his fame, influence, and 'ad hominem' attacks to gain a business advantage. Of course Westinghouse, Steinmetz etc. get the last laugh whenever you plug an appliance into a wall socket or even turn on a light. After all that AC power going to that bulb.