I think it is wise, and only honest, to warn you that my goal is immodest. It is not my purpose to "transfer knowledge" to you that, subsequently, you can forget again. My purpose is no less than to effectuate in each of you a noticeable, irreversable change. I want you to gain, for the rest of your lives, the insight that beautiful proofs are not "found" by trial anf error but are the result of a consciously applied design discipline. I want you to raise your quality standards. I mean, if 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself "Dijkstra would not have liked this", well, that would be enough immortality for me. -- E. W. Dijkstra

The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: "I did not have time." -- WestHost weekly newsletter 14 Feb 2003

We tend to seek easy, single-factor explanations of success. For most important things, though, success actually requires avoiding many separate causes of failure. -- Jared Diamond

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. -- Sherlock Holmes

[Innovation] comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important. -- Steve Jobs

Remember: you are alone. Every time you can get help from someone, it is an opportunity: you should eagerly size it. But then, promptly return to normal mode: you are alone and you must be prepared to solve every problem yourself. -- Eric KEDJI

It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live. –Mae Jemison

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. –Gloria Steinem

If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents- start charging for it. ~Kim Garst

Fortune sides with him who dares. ~Virgil