…the best flying team has three components: a pilot, a computer and a dog. The computer is there to fly the plane, the pilot is there to feed the dog. And the dog is there to bite the human if it tries to touch the computer.

— Hannah Fry, Hello World

Gerald Weinberg points out that marketers tend to be 10 years older and negotiate for a living—that is, they tend to be seasoned, professional negotiators (Weinberg 1994). The deck is stacked against developers during schedule negotiations.

— Steve McConnell, Rapid Development

Karl Weierstrass once said that a mathematician who is not a bit of a poet will never be a good mathematician.

— Haim Shapira, Eight Lessons on Infinity

The vast majority (90% or more) of programmers have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

— Max Kanat-Alexander, Understanding Software

In some ways, programming is like painting. You start with a blank canvas and certain basic raw materials. You use a combination of science, art, and craft to determine what to do with them. You sketch out an overall shape, paint the underlying environment, then fill in the details. You constantly step back with a critical eye to view what you’ve done. Every now and then you’ll throw a canvas away and start again. But artists will tell you that all the hard work is ruined if you don’t know when to stop. If you add layer upon layer, detail over detail, the painting becomes lost in the paint.

— Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmer