Some quotes

Religion is a way of walking, not a way of talking.

- Dean William R. Ing

It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.

- Dean William R. Inge

Real men don’t use backups, they post their stuff on a public ftp server and let the rest of the world make copies. 

- Linus Torvalds

Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.

- H. Abelson and G. Sussman (in "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs)

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.

- W. Allen

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.

- E. Dijkstra

Being abstract is something profoundly different from being vague... The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.

- E. Dijkstra 

The difference between design and research seems to be a question of the good versus the new. Design doesn't have to be new, but it has to be good. Research doesn't have to be good, but it has to be new. I think these two paths converge at the top: the best design surpasses its predecessors by using new ideas, and the best research solves problems that are not only new, but worth solving. So ultimately design and research are aiming for the same destination, just approaching it from different directions.

- P. Graham (in "Hackers and Painters" footnote 9, pg. 224)

An infinite crowd of mathematicians enters a bar. The first one orders a pint, the second one a half pint, the third one a quarter pint… “I understand”, says the bartender – and pours two pints. 

Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue.

If you give someone a program, you will frustrate them for a day; if you teach them how to program, you will frustrate them for a lifetime.

Hey! It compiles! Ship it!

Computers make very fast, very accurate mistakes.