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

Have you ever noticed that when you sit down to write something, half the ideas that end up in it are ones you thought of while writing it? The same thing happens with software. Working to implement one idea gives you more ideas. -- Paul Graham, The other road ahead.

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. -- Mark Twain

Since programmers create programs out of nothing, imagination is our only limitation. Thus, in the world of programming, the hero is the one who has great vision. Paul Graham is one of our contemporary heroes. He has the ability to embrace the vision, and to express it plainly. His works are my favorites, especially the ones describing language design. He explains secrets of programming, languages, and human nature that can only be learned from the hacker experience. This book shows you his great vision, and tells you the truth about the nature of hacking. -- Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, creator of Ruby

State is the root of all evil. In particular functions with side effects should be avoided. -- OO Sucks (bluetail.com)

You can have premature generalization as well as premature optimization. -- Bjarne Stroustrup

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. –Henry Ford

A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them. ~Henry Kravis

If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of your problems and start focusing on the size of you! ~T. Harv Eker

Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~Theodore N. Vail