A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.

Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it.

The best book on programming for the layman is Alice in Wonderland, but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.

Every reader should ask himself periodically “Toward what end, toward what end?”—but do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.

I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun.

There is no such thing as a free variable.

Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.