There is very little point in trying to urge the world to mend its ways as long as that world is still convinced that its ways are perfectly adequate.

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.

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

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.

No god will spare you forgiveness for loving me.

I've always tried to be nice to people, so that sort of translates into popularity, I guess.

The true self is not aware that it is a self. A bird, as it sings, sings itself. But not according to a picture. It has no idea of itself.

To be fearless no matter what happens-that is the root of true happiness. To move forward resolutely regardless of what lies in store-that is the spirit, the resolve, that leads to human victory.

If you're playing for the Kansas City Royals about all you can do is beat your head against the wall.

History is sympathetic to its authors.

Life is what our character makes it. We fashion it, as a snail does its shell. A man can say: I never made a fortune because it is not in my character to be rich.

The smallest errors are always the best. [Fr., Les plus courtes erreurs sont toujours les meilleures.]

Steve Jobs doesn't use a Mac, and won't, because it's too crappy in his opinion.

Do you know what morals are? Morals are an obedience to rules that people laid down to help you live among them.