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

Philosophy: the finding of bad reasons for what one believes by instinct. -- Brave New World (paraphrased)

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. -- author unknown (quoted in `Robust Systems', Gerald Jay Suseman)

Students should be evaluated on how well they can achieve the goals they strived to achieve within a realistic context. Students need to learn to do things, not know things. -- Roger Schank, Engines for Education

Abstraction is a form of data compression: absolutely necessary, because human short-term memory is so small, but the critically important aspect of abstraction is the algorithm that gets you from the name back to the "uncompressed" details. -- Bruce Wilder (blog post comment)

La haine est une liqueur précieuse, un poison plus cher que celui des Borgia, - car il est fait avec notre sang, notre santé, notre sommeil, et les deux tiers de notre amour! Il faut en être avare! -- Charles Baudelaire, Conseils aux jeunes littérateurs.

If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission. ~Anonymous

Your problem isn’t the problem. Your reaction is the problem. ~Anonymous

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. –Pablo Picasso

Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~Lolly Daskal