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
Be the change you want to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
What I didn't understand was that the value of some new acquisition wasn't the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it. It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will. -- Paul Graham
Ils ne sont pas forts parce qu'ils sont forts. Ils sont forts parce que nous sommes faibles. -- Ragala Khalid
J'ai toujours préféré la folie des passions à la sagesse de l'indifférence. -- Anatole France
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
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~Maya Angelou
Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~Lolly Daskal
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~Maya Angelou
Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. ~John Wooden