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Quote of the Day

If you enjoy programming, philosophy, math, or any number of geeky topics, you're in the right place. Every day, I'll post a random quote from my extensive collection of Kindle highlights. Quotes do not necessarily reflect my views or opinions. In fact, part of my epistemic process is to consume a wide variety of contradictory material.

10/16/2025

While the instruction “Do not criticize” is often cited as the important instruction in brainstorming, this appears to be a counterproductive strategy. Our findings show that debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition … There’s this Pollyannaish notion that the most important thing to do when working together is stay positive and get along, to not hurt anyone’s feelings. Well, that’s just wrong. Maybe debate is going to be less pleasant, but it will always be more productive. True creativity requires some trade-offs.

— Jim Whitehurst and Gary Hamel, The Open Organization

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10/14/2025

The software engineering community has given much attention to its development processes. It has needed to, for I know of few design communities where average practice is so far behind best practice, and where worst practice is so far behind average practice.

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

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