As a linguist, I don't think of Ada as a big language. Now, English and Japanese, those are big languages. Ada is just a medium-sized language.

Younger hackers are hard to classify. They're probably just as diverse as the old hackers are. We're all over the map.

At many levels, Perl is a 'diagonal' language.

Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris.

For me, writing is a love-hate relationship.

Portability should be the default.

I think software patents are a bad idea. Many patents are given for trivial inventions.

Symmetry is overrated. Overrated is symmetry.

The Harvard Law states: Under controlled conditions of light, temperature, humidity, and nutrition, the organism will do as it damn well pleases.

Over the long term, symbiosis is more useful than parasitism. More fun, too. Ask any mitochondria.

Hubris itself will not let you be an artist.

Let us go beyond the boundaries of right and wrong. Let us vanish in the beauty of love.

If a soldier or labourer complain of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing.

The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.

My friends, if we are going to do a great work for God, we must spend much time in prayer; we have got to be closeted with God.

The Sufi is One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to seek for what he has not.

Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution - the 60's comes from it.

I do not sleep to dream but dream to change the world

No one aspires as a child to grow up and enter into a domestic partnership. But they do aspire as children to grow up and be married.

In life nothing goes on for ever, even if it looks exactly as if it would.