Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.
--Melvin E. Conway

In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they're not.
--Benjamin Brewster

If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
--Edsger Dijkstra

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
--Edsger Dijkstra

Java is to JavaScript what Car is to Carpet.
--Chris Heilmann

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. --Brian Kernighan

Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen.
--Edward V. Berard

It is easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code.
--Bill Harlan

Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.
--E.W. Djikstra

A common fallacy is to assume authors of incomprehensible code will be able to express themselves clearly in comments.
--Kevlin Henney

The lesson is: Even if you know exactly what is going on in your system, measure performance, don't speculate. You'll learn something, and nine times out of ten, it won't be that you were right!
--Ron Jeffries

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
--Antoine de Saint Exupéry