We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers.

A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits.

Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.

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

There is very little point in trying to urge the world to mend its ways as long as that world is still convinced that its ways are perfectly adequate.

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.

Much of the excitement we get out of our work is that we don't really know what we are doing.