A hacker on a roll may be able to produce–in a period of a few months–something that a small development group (say, 7-8 people) would have a hard time getting together over a year. IBM used to report that certain programmers might be as much as 100 times as productive as other workers, or more. -- Peter Seebach

The lesson of the story might appear to be that self-interested and ambitious people in power are often the cause of wastefulness in developing countries. But self-interested and ambitious people are in positions of power, great and small, all over the world. In many places, they are restrained by the law, the press, and democratic opposition. Cameroon's tragedy is that there is nothing to hold self-interest in check. -- Tim Harford

It's no trick for talented people to be interesting, but it's a gift to be interested. We want an organization filled with interested people. -- Randy S. Nelson (dean of Pixar University)

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. -- Benjamin Franklin

Je ne vous impose aucune contrainte, aucune limite. Surprenez-moi, étonnez-moi, défiez-moi, défiez-vous vous-même. Vous avez le choix: vous pouvez rester dans l'ombre ou en sortir en étant parmis les trop rares exceptions à avoir réussi. L'heure est venue d'aller bien au delà de votre potentiel. L'heure est venue maintenant de descendre vraiment en vous. L'heure est venue de démontrer pourquoi vous êtes l'élite, les quelques élus, les rares lueurs qui offrent à cette compagnie son caractère exceptionnel, sa luminescence. -- Le PDG de NURV, dans "Anti-trust".

We control complexity by building abstractions that hide details when appropriate. We control complexity by establishing conventional interfaces that enable us to construct systems by combining standard, well-understood pieces in a ``mix and match'' way. We control complexity by establishing new languages for describing a design, each of which emphasizes particular aspects of the design and deemphasizes others. -- Alan J. Perlis

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absense of fear. ~Mark Twain

What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. –Bob Dylan

The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. ~Colin R. Davis

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. –Chinese Proverb