In general, we can think of data as defined by some collection of selectors and constructors, together with specified conditions that these procedures must fulfill in order to be a valid representation. -- SICP, What is meant by data?

Being a programmer is the same way. The only way to be a good programmer is to write code. When you realize you haven't been writing much code lately, and it seems like all you do is brag about code you wrote in the past, and people start looking at you funny while you're shooting your mouth off, realize it's because they know. They might not even know they know, but they know. So, yes, doing what you love brings success, and by all means, throw yourself a nice big party, buy yourself a nice car, soak up the adulation of an adoring crowd. Then shut the fuck up and get back to work. -- Sincerity Theory

Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams. -- Mary Ellen Kelly

Premature abstraction is an equally grevious sin as premature optimization. -- Keith Devens

A charlatan makes obscure what is clear; a thinker makes clear what is obscure. -- Hugh Kingsmill

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. -- Galileo Galilei

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. –Les Brown

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to doDon’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. ~Jim Rohn

Education costs money. But then so does ignorance. –Sir Claus Moser

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. –Plato