The problem is that small examples fail to convince, and large examples are too big to follow. -- Steve Yegge.

Humans aren't rational -- they rationalize. And I don't just mean "some of them" or "other people". I'm talking about everyone. We have a "logic engine" in our brains, but for the most part, it's not the one in the driver's seat -- instead it operates after the fact, generating rationalizations and excuses for our behavior. -- Paul Buchheit

Code is poetry. -- wordpress.org

Let me try to get this straight: Lisp is a language for describing algorithms. This was JohnMcCarthy's original purpose, anyway: to build something more convenient than a Turing machine. Lisp is not about file, socket or GUI programming - Lisp is about expressive power. (For example, you can design multiple object systems for Lisp, in Lisp. Or implement the now-fashionable AOP. Or do arbitrary transformations on parsed source code.) If you don't value expressive power, Lisp ain't for you. I, personally, would prefer Lisp to not become mainstream: this would necessarily involve a dumbing down. -- VladimirSlepnev

Actually, the essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty. Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness in subtle variations on familiar themes. -- George Leonard, Mastery.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. -- Arthur C. Clarke

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. –Robert Frost

If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. –Sheryl Sandberg

Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. ~Anonymous

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. ~Bill Gates