The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.

If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.

The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim.

Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.

The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges.

Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.

Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated.

Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!

Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.

Teaching COBOL ought to be regarded as a criminal act.

Perfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning.

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.

There is nothing more harrowing than a deadly hush with the feel of a great noise around it

You can't be happy that fire cooks your food and be mad it burns your fingertips.

An angry person is always full of poison.

Yes,' growled Fell, 'for animals do not know what they do, but man has knowledge of his cruelty.

Most of what I do is for creative people - writers and painters and photographers - trying to work through creative problems.

When I fight someone, I want to break his will. I want to take his manhood. I want to rip out his heart and show it to him.

All Chaos was once yer kingdom; verily, held ye dominion over the entire Pentaverse, but today ye was sore afraid in dark coners, nooks, and sink holes.

Imagine what Masaccio or Leonardo would have done if they had an instrument with which they could point, push a button, and get an image.

Its not about the goal. Its about growing to become the person that can accomplish that goal.