Only bad designers blame their failings on the users. -- unknown

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

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.

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. -- Randy Pausch

Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder. -- Erik Naggum

If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough. -- Mario Andretti

If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. –Sheryl Sandberg

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. –Pablo Picasso

It is never too late to be what you might have been. –George Eliot

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. ~Anonymous