If we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as "lines produced" but as "lines spent."

LISP has jokingly been described as "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer." I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavour of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.

The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.

In the software business there are many enterprises for which it is not clear that science can help them; that science should try is not clear either.

Computer science has as much to do with computers as astronomy has to do with telescopes.

Beauty is our business.

The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.