Alan Perlis

Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.

Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches: Banality soothes our nerves.

In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word "frustration".

It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.

A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.

Every reader should ask himself periodically “Toward what end, toward what end?”—but do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.

C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.

Programmers are not to be measured by their ingenuity and their logic but by the completeness of their case analysis.

Optimization hinders evolution.

The best book on programming for the layman is Alice in Wonderland, but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.

Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.

I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.