Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.

Another effective [debugging] technique is to explain your code to someone else. This will often cause you to explain the bug to yourself. Sometimes it takes no more than a few sentences, followed by an embarrassed "Never mind, I see what's wrong. Sorry to bother you." This works remarkably well; you can even use non-programmers as listeners. One university computer center kept a teddy bear near the help desk. Students with mysterious bugs were required to explain them to the bear before they could speak to a human counselor.

An effective way to test code is to exercise it at its natural boundaries

If you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?

90% of the functionality delivered now is better than 100% delivered never.

Believe the terrain, not the map

Do what you think is interesting, do something that you think is fun and worthwhile, because otherwise you won't do it well anyway.