I don't know if Edison is really a person you should look up to. But I know that Buckminister Fuller had a similar philosopy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller#Bankruptcy_a...

> By age 32, Fuller was bankrupt and jobless, living in public, low-income housing in Chicago, Illinois. In 1922,[3] Fuller's young daughter Alexandra died from complications from polio and spinal meningitis. Allegedly, he felt responsible and this caused him to become drunk frequently and to contemplate suicide for a while. He finally chose to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity."[4]