Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. -- Alfred North Whitehead (Introduction to Mathematics)

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)

Some people suggest that machines would be friendlier if input could be in a natural language. But natural language is probably the worst kind of input because it can be quite ambiguous. The process of retrieving information from the computer would be so time-consuming that you would be better off spending that time getting the information directly from an expert. -- Gary Kildall (inventor of CP/M, one of the first OS for the micro).

I was talking recently to a friend who teaches at MIT. His field is hot now and every year he is inundated by applications from would-be graduate students. "A lot of them seem smart," he said. "What I can't tell is whether they have any kind of taste." -- Paul Graham

Premature abstraction is an equally grevious sin as premature optimization. -- Keith Devens

The acts of the mind, wherein it exerts its power over simple ideas, are chiefly these three: 1. Combining several simple ideas into one compound one, and thus all complex ideas are made. 2. The second is bringing two ideas, whether simple or complex, together, and setting them by one another so as to take a view of them at once, without uniting them into one, by which it gets all its ideas of relations. 3. The third is separating them from all other ideas that accompany them in their real existence: this is called abstraction, and thus all its general ideas are made. -- John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. –Jamie Paolinetti

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.~ Anatole France

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. –Steve Jobs

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. –Alice Walker