How do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity - in short: what mathematicians call elegance - are not a dispensable luxury, but a crucial matter that decides between success and failure?

The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.

In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of mankind.

Experience does by no means automatically leads to wisdom and understanding.

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

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

... as a slow-witted human being I have a very small head and I had better learn to live with it and to respect my limitations and give them full credit, rather than to try to ignore them, for the latter vain effort will be punished by failure.