I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.

The remark frames invention as a deliberately social, needs-driven activity rather than a purely technical or self-expressive pursuit. Edison presents himself as starting from a diagnosis of practical problems—“what the world needs”—and only then turning to experimentation and design. The emphasis on “service” aligns with his public persona as an industrial inventor and entrepreneur who sought scalable, marketable systems (lighting, power distribution, sound recording) rather than isolated curiosities. Read rhetorically, it also functions as a defense of commercial invention: profit and patents are implied to be justified when the end result materially benefits others. The quote thus encapsulates a utilitarian ethic of innovation and a customer-centered approach to creativity.