State is the root of all evil. In particular functions with side effects should be avoided. -- OO Sucks (bluetail.com)
Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts. -- Edsger Dijkstra, CACM, 15:10
We now come to the decisive step of mathematical abstraction: we forget about what the symbols stand for. ...[The mathematician] need not be idle; there are many operations which he may carry out with these symbols, without ever having to look at the things they stand for. -- Hermann Weyl, The Mathematical Way of Thinking
The only thing a man should ever be 100% convinced of is his own ignorance. -- DJ MacLean
I think there’s a world market for about 5 computers. -- Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of the Board, IBM, circa 1948
While I’ve always appreciated beautiful code, I share Jonathan’s concern about studying it too much. I think studying beauty in music and painting has led us to modern classical music and painting that the majority of us just don’t get. Beauty can be seen when it emerges, but isn’t something to strive for in isolation of a larger context. In the software world, the larger context would be the utility of the software to the end user. -- [A comment on a blog]
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. –Confucius
Change your thoughts and you change your world. –Norman Vincent Peale
Education costs money. But then so does ignorance. –Sir Claus Moser