A witty saying proves nothing -- Voltaire

While I’ve always appreciated beautiful code, I share Jonathan’s concern about studying it too much. I think studying beauty in music and painting has led us to modern classical music and painting that the majority of us just don’t get. Beauty can be seen when it emerges, but isn’t something to strive for in isolation of a larger context. In the software world, the larger context would be the utility of the software to the end user. -- [A comment on a blog]

Programmers are in a race with the Universe to create bigger and better idiot-proof programs, while the Universe is trying to create bigger and better idiots. So far the Universe is winning. -- Rich Cook

Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming. -- Donald Knuth

Workers of the world, the chains that bind you are not held in place by a ruling class, a "superior" race, by society, the state, or a leader. They are held in place by none other than yourself. Those who seek to exploit are not themselves free, for they place no value in freedom. Who is it that really employs you and commands you to pick up your daily load? And who is it that you allow to pass judgment on the adequacy of your toil? Who have you empowered to dangle the carrot before you and threaten with disapproval? Who, when you wake each morning, sends you off to what you call your work? Is there an "I want to" behind all your "I have to," or have you been so long forgotten to yourself that "I want" exists only as an idea in your head? If you have disconnected from your soul's desire and are drowning in an ocean of "have to," then rise up and overthrow your master. Begin the journey toward emancipation. Work only in such a way that you are truly self-employed. -- Tim Gallwey, The inner game of work

The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out. -- Donald Norman

Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. ~Anonymous

If you genuinely want something, don’t wait for it — teach yourself to be impatient. ~Gurbaksh Chahal

No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.~ Anonymous

You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing, no one to blame. –Erica Jong