The central limit theorem is truly a miracle of nineteenth-century mathematics. Think about it: even though the path of any individual ball is unpredictable, the path of 1,000 balls is extremely predictable…

— Judea Pearl, Dana Mackenzie, The Book of Why

In teaching programming and software engineering over the last thirty years, I’ve become increasingly convinced that the determinant of success when you’re developing software isn’t whether you use the latest programming languages and tools, or the management process you follow (agile or otherwise), or even how you structure the code. It’s simply whether you know what you are trying to do.

— Daniel Jackson, The Essence of Software

The Conspiracy has proved that you can have “high intelligence” but still not be able to think.

— Subgenius Foundation, Book of the Subgenius

If you look at forces that improved products like socks, sweaters, and Twinkies,the engine that drives that system is economics. It’s economics that breaks down for software so that it remains indefinitely in its present primitive stage of evolution.

— Federico Biancuzzi, Masterminds of Programming

If you are a good leader, Who talks little, They will say, When your work is done, And your aim fulfilled, “We did it ourselves.”

— Lao Tzu and Darrell D. Lau, Tao Te Ching