Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming. -- Donald Knuth
Let me try to get this straight: Lisp is a language for describing algorithms. This was JohnMcCarthy's original purpose, anyway: to build something more convenient than a Turing machine. Lisp is not about file, socket or GUI programming - Lisp is about expressive power. (For example, you can design multiple object systems for Lisp, in Lisp. Or implement the now-fashionable AOP. Or do arbitrary transformations on parsed source code.) If you don't value expressive power, Lisp ain't for you. I, personally, would prefer Lisp to not become mainstream: this would necessarily involve a dumbing down. -- VladimirSlepnev
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live. -- Martin Golding
Revolutions come from standing on the shoulders of giants and facing in a better direction. -- Alan Kay
Abstraction is a form of data compression: absolutely necessary, because human short-term memory is so small, but the critically important aspect of abstraction is the algorithm that gets you from the name back to the "uncompressed" details. -- Bruce Wilder (blog post comment)
Java and C++ make you think that the new ideas are like the old ones. Java is the most distressing thing to hit computing since MS-DOS. -- Alan Kay
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. –Steve Jobs
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. –Maya Angelou
All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. ~Walt Disney
Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them. ~Vaibhav Shah