It used to be the program's purpose to instruct our computers; it became the computer's purpose to execute our programs.

If there is one 'scientific' discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in mind.

Brainpower is by far our scarcest resource.

I don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist.

Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration.

The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.

… what society overwhelmingly asks for is snake oil. Of course, the snake oil has the most impressive names — otherwise you would be selling nothing — like “Structured Analysis and Design”, “Software Engineering”, “Maturity Models”, “Management Information Systems”, “Integrated Project Support Environments” “Object Orientation” and “Business Process Re-engineering”.