When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. -- unknown

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)

Seize any opportunity, or anything that looks like opportunity. They are rare, much rarer than you think... -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, "The Black Swan".

When your enemy is making a very serious mistake, don't be impolite and disturb him. -- Napoleon Bonaparte (allegedly)

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

The Work Begins Anew, The Hope Rises Again, And The Dream Lives On. -- Ted Kennedy

The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning; to create a product or service to make the world a better place. ~Guy Kawasaki

If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents- start charging for it. ~Kim Garst

We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. –Marie Curie

An unexamined life is not worth living. –Socrates