Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time

Berkeley hackers liked to see themselves as rebels against soulless corporate empires.

The workstation-class machines built by Sun and others opened up new worlds for hackers.

Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)

Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around.

Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (e.g., given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone).

If you have the right attitude, interesting problems will find you.

You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated by passion.

Prototype, then polish. Get it working before you optimize it

The easiest programs to use are those which demand the least new learning from the user

When I hear the words "social responsibility," I want to reach for my gun.

Knowledge is borrowed wisdom is earned.

We're all running away. Some of us just don't get very far.

If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad.

Children are monsters of unbridled egotism and will, for they spring directly from nature, hostile intimations of immorality.

She was afraid you'd freak out? Start seeing demons in the White House?

The 'halo effect' is clearly alive and well.

I like to sing and it's just really fun to sing, and I don't get too much. And at my house I'm not allowed to because, you know, your children can't stand it when you sing at home.

Above any commercial success one might enjoy, one's reputation for honesty is the most important thing

I went through a whole phase when I was younger of being obsessed with Tolstoy and Kafka and Camus, all those really, beautiful, dark depressing books.

I look at old photos of me, and I don't feel connected to them at all.