Being able to break security doesn't make you a hacker anymore than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer.

Berkeley hackers liked to see themselves as rebels against soulless corporate empires.

The workstation-class machines built by Sun and others opened up new worlds for hackers.

Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)

Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around.

Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (e.g., given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone).

If you have the right attitude, interesting problems will find you.

You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated by passion.

Prototype, then polish. Get it working before you optimize it

The easiest programs to use are those which demand the least new learning from the user

When I hear the words "social responsibility," I want to reach for my gun.

Life is energy and, as such, it belongs to all, reaches all, and blesses all.

Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned.

Adopt the pace of nature her secret is patience.

There can be no doubt that a society rooted in the soil is more stable than one rooted in pavements.

Freedom is not having a big budget.

You know sometimes football turns on the slightest biscuit of good fortune.

As my doctor said, eventually your eyes do start to give out on you if you're not taking care of them.

The greatest Clerkes be not the wisest men.

Being an author means, almost by definition, that you make up characters and then complicate their lives. That's it, really. You make up characters and give them problem after problem after problem.

I have always been of the opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.