Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming. -- Donald Knuth
A guideline in the process of stepwise refinement should be the principle to decompose decisions as much as possible, to untangle aspects which are only seemingly interdependent, and to defer those decisions which concern details of representation as long as possible. -- Niklaus Wirth
Chance favors the prepared mind. -- Louis Pasteur
Getting back to failing early, I've learned it's important to completely fail. Get fired. Shoot the project, then burn its corpse. Melt the CVS repository and microwave the backup CDs. When things go wrong, I've often tried to play the hero from start to finish. Guess what? Some projects are doomed no matter what. Some need skills I don't possess. And some need a fresh face. -- Reginald Braithwaite
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
The proof is by reductio ad absurdum, and reductio ad absurdum, which Euclid loved so much, is one of a mathematician’s finest weapons. It is a far finer gambit than any chess gambit: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game. -- G. H. Hardy
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. ~Proverb
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. –Maya Angelou
The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself. ~Mark Caine
Either you run the day, or the day runs you. –Jim Rohn