Coders are often happy to perform the interesting and rewarding work on core technologies for free at night but, since that means they have less and less incentive to think about how such creations will ultimately be made compatible, that means the same coders are reduced during the day to the tedious (but paid) work of making them fit together.

— David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs

Not to believe that there is a God or to believe that there is not a God is one thing; to resign oneself to there not being a God is another thing, and it is a terrible and inhuman thing; but not to wish that there be a God exceeds every other moral monstrosity; although, as a matter of fact, those who deny God deny Him because of their despair at not finding Him.

— Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life

It is important to emphasize that in professional environments, the ability to play the role is generally far more important than the ability to actually do the work.

— David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs

…we write that software. And that makes us the rulers of the world.

— Robert C. Martin, Clean Craftsmanship

On paper, the USSR under Stalin boasted an exemplary constitution, with far more democratic controls than European parliamentary systems of the time. It was just that, much as in the Federation, none of this had any bearing on how life actually worked.

— David Graeber, The Utopia of Rules