Precisely because we are of a broad, Karamazovian nature—and this is what I am driving at—capable of containing all possible opposites and of contemplating both abysses at once, the abyss above us, an abyss of lofty ideals, and the abyss beneath us, an abyss of the lowest and foulest degradation.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky, The Brothers Karamazov

The more successful a company is in extracting every bit of capacity from its workers, the more it exposes itself to turnover and attendant human capital loss.

— Tom DeMarco, Slack

But what is happiness except a simple harmony between man and the life he leads?

— Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays

Strong managers don’t care when team members cut their hair or whether they wear ties. Their pride is tied only to their staff’s accomplishments.

— Tom DeMarco, Tim Lister, Peopleware

Wasting programmer time is the true inefficiency, not wasting machine time. This will become ever more clear as computers get faster.

— Paul Graham, Hackers & Painters