A program designed for inputs from people is usually stressed beyond breaking point by computer-generated inputs.

UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it.

Unix has retarded OS research by 10 years and linux has retarded it by 20.

C was already implemented on several quite different machines and OSs, Unix was already being distributed on the PDP-11, but the portability of the whole system was new

C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.

C++ and Java, say, are presumably growing faster than plain C, but I bet C will still be around.

For infrastructure technology, C will be hard to displace.

A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program in than some that do

... with proper design, the features come cheaply. This approach is arduous, but continues to succeed.

I'm not a person who particularly had heros when growing up.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

Traveler, there is no path, the path must be forged as you walk.

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.

Because of the hegemony of fundamentalist religion in the United States, this country has been among the most resistant to the fact of human evolution.

I feel like at 50 I've decided to become a rock star, which is, you know, typical of me. I always seem to work backwards.

But when I reintroduced the Nation of Islam, and began to host meetings in cities and thousands and thousands of people come out.

The only unforgivable sin: Being unforgiving.

How can you go on stage and shout 'Yeah! Rock'n'roll forever!' and then go to bed at 10 o'clock with a nightcap on, a candle in your hand and a Bible under your arm?

I think the major problem in growing up is to become sophisticated without becoming cynical.

Make your life spectacular, I know I did.