Linus Torvalds Quotes

Portability is for people who cannot write new programs.

It seems certain that much of the success of Unix follows from the readability, modifiability, and portability of its software.

The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music.

Anybody who is capable of doing terrible things, you don't want them out in the world, but you can't help but respect their ingenuity and their savvy and their intelligence as they go about their dastardly deeds.

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.

A good writer wants from us — or has no right to ask more than — intelligence, good faith and time.

It's all the unwordable things one wants to write about, just as it's all the unformable things one wants to paint - essence.

One must be a little foolish if one does not want to be even more stupid.

Cunning and treachery proceed from want of capacity.

I think everyone should get a little exposure to computer science because it really forces you to think in a slightly different way, and it's a skill that you can apply in life in general, whether you end up in computer science or not.

The way I see it, if you declare something portable, you'll always be wrong, and if you declare it non-portable, you'll always be right.

The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.

Be the smartest at the table and you can wear whatever you want.

I want to make the programs very strong.

You want to be as smart as you can about being stupid.

Most robots don't program themselves.

I don't see those paintings as abstractions, especially because they are emblems of the inkblot. They aren't smashed together; they are constructed shape-by-shape, layer-by-layer, like any other picture.

Learning to program has no more to do with designing interactive software than learning to touch type has to do with writing poetry

Americans ... want leaders who share their values, understand their needs, and respect their intelligence.

An old racetrack joke reminds you that your program contains all the winners' names. I stare at my typewriter keys with the same thought.

Wise is what you want to be. Smart is easy compared to wise.

I don't want to be smart, because being smart makes you depressed.

When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue.

I made up the term "object-oriented," and I can tell you I did not have C++ in mind.

I'm interested in producing truncated shapes in proportion to the frame and composition, shapes that are preferably luminous. I'm not interested in the full-figure. I want to abstract forms.