Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door
"Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door" is a metaphor about the power of innovation. It originated, in a somewhat different form, with Ralph Waldo Emerson. The epigram as known today, which specifies "mousetrap", probably also originated with Emerson, although the evidence for this is indirect.
Origin
In February 1855, Emerson wrote in his journal, under the heading "Common Fame":In May 1882, a month after his death, the following quotation was attributed to Emerson by The Cincinnati Enquirer under the heading "The Value of Good Work":
Researchers believe it likely that Emerson used a modified version of the theme from his journal in a lecture given at some point after 1855, with the word "mouse-trap" inserted in place of one of the other example products.