In general, we can think of data as defined by some collection of selectors and constructors, together with specified conditions that these procedures must fulfill in order to be a valid representation. -- SICP, What is meant by data?

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. -- Mark Twain

Some may say Ruby is a bad rip-off of Lisp or Smalltalk, and I admit that. But it is nicer to ordinary people. -- Matz, LL2

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

You will never become a Great Programmer until you acknowledge that you will always be a Terrible Programmer. You will remain a Great Programmer for only as long as you acknowledge that you are still a Terrible Programmer. -- Marc (http://kickin-the-darkness.blogspot.com/)

What I didn't understand was that the value of some new acquisition wasn't the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it. It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will. -- Paul Graham

Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. ~Pablo Picasso

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. –Grandma Moses

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~Thomas A. Edison

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Vidal Sassoon