This challenge, viz. the confrontation with the programming task, is so unique that this novel experience can teach us a lot about ourselves. It should deepen our understanding of the processes of design and creation, it should give us better control over the task of organizing our thoughts. If it did not do so, to my taste we should no deserve the computer at all! It has allready taught us a few lessons, and the one I have chosen to stress in this talk is the following. We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremenduous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsec limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers. -- E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer

Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte. (I have made this letter so long only because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter.) -- Blaise Pascal (Lettres Provinciales)

The minute you put the blame on someone else you’ve switch things from being a problem you can control to a problem outside of your control. -- engtech (internetducttape.com)

You can’t get to version 500 if you don’t start with a version 1. -- BetterExplained.com

Any sufficiently advanced technology is undistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke

It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to BASIC. As potential programmers, they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. -- E. W. Dijkstra

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

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction. ~George Lorimer

The mind is everything. What you think you become. –Buddha

We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret. ~Earl Nightingale