The acts of the mind, wherein it exerts its power over simple ideas, are chiefly these three: 1. Combining several simple ideas into one compound one, and thus all complex ideas are made. 2. The second is bringing two ideas, whether simple or complex, together, and setting them by one another so as to take a view of them at once, without uniting them into one, by which it gets all its ideas of relations. 3. The third is separating them from all other ideas that accompany them in their real existence: this is called abstraction, and thus all its general ideas are made. -- John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

The function of good software is to make the complex appear to be simple. -- Grady Booch

I’d rather write programs to write programs than write programs. -- Richard Sites

What do Americans look for in a car? I've heard many answers when I've asked this question. The answers include excellent safety ratings, great gas mileage, handling, and cornering ability, among others. I don't believe any of these. That's because the first principle of the Culture Code is that the only effective way to understand what people truly mean is to ignore what they say. This is not to suggest that people intentionally lie or misrepresent themselves. What it means is that, when asked direct questions about their interests and preferences, people tend to give answers they believe the questioner wants to hear. Again, this is not because they intend to mislead. It is because people respond to these questions with their cortexes, the parts of their brains that control intelligence rather than emotion or instinct. They ponder a question, they process a question, and when they deliver an answer, it is the product of deliberation. They believe they are telling the truth. A lie detector would confirm this. In most cases, however, they aren't saying what they mean. -- The culture code.

There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination. -- Hara Estroff Marano.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. -- unknown

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. –Les Brown

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. –Steve Jobs

I would rather die of passion than of boredom. –Vincent van Gogh

I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. –Benjamin Franklin