Legend has it that while drinking wine in a boat on the river, [8th century Chinese poet Li Po] tried to grab the moon’s reflection on the surface and tumbled in, which is probably the poet’s equivalent of dying bravely in battle.

— Matthew White and Steven Pinker, Atrocities

…if I were suddenly to discover that my life was lived in a computer simulation, I would be in bits.

— Philosophy Now, Anja Publications

An insecure need for obedience is the opposite of natural authority.

— Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister, Peopleware

You can dismiss any claim of an ability to improve productivity by more than 25 percent per year out of hand as a silver-bullet claim.

— Steve McConnell, Rapid Development

…the medium that remains after all your rigid bans may well turn out to be flexible enough to fashion precisely the items you’ve banned.

— Douglas R. Hofstadter, I Am a Strange Loop