A sense of injustice may lead to murder, or to a ground-breaking work of economic theory. Envy may lead to bitterness, or to a decision to compete with a rival and the production of a masterpiece.

— Alain De Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

Throughout a forty-year career, there are times when you’re rested and looking for a challenging, enveloping role. There are going to be other times when you’re drained and worn out. You will harm yourself by accepting a role that demands more pace from you than you’re able to presently sustain.

— Will Larson and Tanya Reilly, Staff Engineer

Do you see that having to be right is making you suffer?

— Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

Programs, like any other human-made objects, are designed—or should be designed—with a definite lifespan and scope of application in mind.

— Gerald Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming

First, virtually every sentence that a person utters or understands is a brand-new combination of words, appearing for the first time in the history of the universe. Therefore a language cannot be a repertoire of responses; the brain must contain a recipe or program that can build an unlimited set of sentences out of a finite list of words.

— Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct