Alan Perlis

A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. ”

It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self critical. ”

Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them. ”

You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN. ”

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

Every program has two purposes: The one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't. ”

LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing. ”

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works. ”

It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa. ”

In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm. ”