Expectations create reality, or at least color it. If you expect the worst from people, technology, or an organization, then that’s what you’re primed to see.

— Andy Hunt, Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

The psychological experiments on individuals showing “biases” do not allow us to automatically understand aggregates or collective behavior, nor do they enlighten us about the behavior of groups.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Skin in the Game

Economists examining US and Canadian samples have found that attractive individuals get paid an average of 12–14 percent more than their unattractive coworkers…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky, How to Actually Change Your Mind

Can I, by sufficient thought alone, design a complex object correctly? No; testing and iteration are in practice necessary. But careful thought helps.

— Frederick P. Brooks Jr., The Design of Design

We can get good designs by following good practices instead of poor ones. Good design practices can be taught. Programmers are among the most intelligent part of the population, so they can learn good practice. Thus a major thrust in the United States is to promulgate good modern practice. New curricula, new literature, new organizations such as the Software Engineering Institute, all have come into being in order to raise the level of our practice from poor to good.

— Frederick P. Brooks Jr., The Mythical Man-Month