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

…expensive objects can feel like plausible solutions to needs we don’t understand.

— Alain De Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

There is no way to do partial TDD; it is an all-or-nothing discipline.

— Robert C. Martin, Clean Craftsmanship

The tantalizing and compelling pursuit of mathematical problems offers mental absorption, peace of mind amid endless challenges, repose in activity, battle without conflict, and the beauty which the ageless mountains present to senses tried by the kaleidoscopic rush of events.

— Morris Kline, Mathematics for the Nonmathematician