Programming is the art of figuring out what you want so precisely that even a machine can do it. -- Some guy who isn't famous
No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it. -- Alberti
I'm always happy to trade performance for readability as long as the former isn't already scarce. -- Crayz (Commentor on blog.raganwald.com)
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
Functional programming is like describing your problem to a mathematician. Imperative programming is like giving instructions to an idiot. -- arcus, #scheme on Freenode
To do something well you have to love it. So to the extent you can preserve hacking as something you love, you're likely to do it well. Try to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. If you're worried that your current job is rotting your brain, it probably is. -- Paul Graham.
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out. ~Robert Collier
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~Thomas A. Edison
Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. ~Anonymous
It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. –Abraham Lincoln