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

So - what are the most important problems in software engineering? I’d answer “dealing with complexity”. -- Mark Chu-Carroll

You can have premature generalization as well as premature optimization. -- Bjarne Stroustrup

There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination. -- Hara Estroff Marano.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. -- Official definition of "duck typing"

While I’ve always appreciated beautiful code, I share Jonathan’s concern about studying it too much. I think studying beauty in music and painting has led us to modern classical music and painting that the majority of us just don’t get. Beauty can be seen when it emerges, but isn’t something to strive for in isolation of a larger context. In the software world, the larger context would be the utility of the software to the end user. -- [A comment on a blog]

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

Dream big and dare to fail. –Norman Vaughan

Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart. – Ancient Indian Proverb

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. –Helen Keller