What we choose to fight is so tiny! What fights us is so great! ... When we win it's with small things, and the triumph itself makes us small. ... Winning does not tempt that man. This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively, by constantly greater beings. -- Rainer Maria Rilke, The Man Watching.

Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts. -- Edsger Dijkstra, CACM, 15:10

Des mots simples, quand ils sont bien utilisés, font faire à des gens ordinaires des choses extraordinaires. -- Khaled TANGAO

The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution. -- Bertrand Russell

Functional programming is to algorithms as the ubiquitous little black dress is to women's fashion. -- Mark Tarver (of "The bipolar Lisp programmer" fame)

The most damaging phrase in the language is, It's always been done that way. -- Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. –Maya Angelou

There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed. ~Ray Goforth

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. –Tony Robbins

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. –Henry Ford