Quotes

"Done is better than perfect."

"Safety third"

"There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words."

"Be comfortable doing anything. Learning anything. Working on anything. Most parts of founding a startup are unglamorous. Like talking to your lawyer about how to get the best strike price on your options for your employees. Or making sure that payroll taxes get paid. But that’s what a great company is: a thousand carefully, but quickly, made decisions."

"when I get a few energy slumps, I rely on some tried and true solutions: I switch tasks to things I really like."

"It is the duty of the architect to solve the problems inherent in essential complexity without introducing accidental complexity."

"When caught between two evils, I try and do the one I’ve never done before"

"Don’t let the process overtake the purpose."

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

"Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it."

"Do it now. Sometimes 'later' becomes 'never'."

"It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission."

"It is always the start that requires the greatest effort."

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

"Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once."

"Fail often so you can succeed sooner."

"Hire character. Train skill."

"As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big."

"A programmer's ability to envision a strong product and methodically map out the code that must be written to build it is analogous to a manager's ability to envision a strategic new line of business and delineate the appropriate steps to create it."

"There's a limit to the number of productive hours a person can actually work. There's also only so much fun you can have before it starts to be not as much fun."

"Keep your organization flat to avoid the friction and overhead of bureaucracy."

"The customer comes first, then the employees, and then the shareholders. If you put the shareholders first, you'll never find the time to grow your company."

"The moment a manager thinks his job is to ask employees 'Did you do task X?' you introduce a layer of cost that adds no value."

"When compared with cookie-cutter white men of the same age and cultural background, people of diverse backgrounds bring valuable perspectives to a common problem."

"The companies with the least amount of burnout are those that have a team approach and don't make people feel as if they're just a cog in the machine."

"If you don't make money, you lose the pride, you lose the funding, you lose the lifeblood of the organization, so be a community but never a nonprofit."

"Always remember that the board made you the boss but your people make you a leader."

"There's definitely some Tao in computer programming."

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!"

"Culture, to me, is about getting people to make the right decision without being told what to do."

"Until proven wrong, assume you are the weak link in any system."

"I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened."

"Change breaks the brittle."

"Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

"We're even wrong about which mistakes we're making."

"However little television you watch, watch less."

"People don't change their minds. They die, and are replaced by people with different opinions."

"PowerPoint makes us stupid."

"Focusing is about saying no."

"There are only two hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation and naming things."

"There are only two hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation and naming things."

"On the first flight to the moon we really discovered the Earth."

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week."

"The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim."

"We are only about 30 years into the age of software, about 20 years into the age of the internet, and about 2 years into the age of artificial intelligence. Each of these by themselves is a technology revolution that I believe we will look back on as being extremely significant; taken together, I believe they will represent the most significant technology revolution in human history—I believe we are likely to have less in common with whatever we call the most intelligent species on the planet in 600 years than we did with humans 60,000 years ago."

"The cost of failure is education."

"She said my soul doesn’t move like it did before"

"Get over the fear of conflict and ... navigate it with empathy"

"When the pressure is on, you don't rise to the occasion -- you fall to your highest level of preparation"

"Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth"

"Hang out with weird, and thou shalt become more weird… Hang out with dull, and thou shalt become more dull."

"(Programming is) the only job I can think of where I get to be both an engineer and an artist. There’s an incredible, rigorous, technical element to it, which I like because you have to do very precise thinking. On the other hand, it has a wildly creative side where the boundaries of imagination are the only real limitation."

"Intuition is a suspension of logic due to impatience."

"Consistency is the playground of dull minds"

"If at first you don't succeed, back off exponentially."

"[re:Y2K] This is a very important general point: people are far too inclined to believe that a crisis averted was never a crisis at all."

"Linux is like if the creator of git wrote an operating system."

"Telling a programmer there's already a library to do X is like telling a songwriter there's already a song about love."

"One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions."

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers"

"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

"Ridicule dries up the imagination."

"I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. Occasionally, I find an answer"

"You only get one shot at life, which is scary. But it sets you free... If our life is all we get to experience, then it's the only thing that matters... If the universe has no purpose, then we get to dictate what that purpose is."

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is."

"define your success before someone else does"

"What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?"

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

"If you do not work on an important problem, it's unlikely you'll do important work."

"Mathematics is an extension of Common Sense by other means"

"If the universe gives you a hard problem, try and solve an easier one instead, and hope that the simple version is close enough to the original problem that the universe doesn't object"

"The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act."

"A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others."

"And Ye Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Free"

"The future is already here; it's just not evenly distributed"

"Always fully understand at least one abstraction layer below where you normally work"

"All models are wrong but some are useful"

"Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today. It's been that way all this year. It's been that way so many times. All of war is that way."

"Back when we were young, And didn't care if we messed up We have forever, so we got lost in each other Cause time wasn't catching, time wasn't catching us"

"Experts see what is not there"

"Technology doesn’t solve humanity’s problems. It was always naïve to think so. Technology is an enabler, but humanity has to deal with humanity’s problems."

"A ship is always safe at shore but that's not what it's built for."

"When you are faced with a [math] problem you don't know how to solve you have two options; you can make easier or you can make it harder."

"There are more stars in the universe than grains of sands on Earth and more molecules in ten drops of water than stars in the universe."

"You could try to pound your head against the wall and think of original ideas or you can cheat by reading them in books."

"Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability."

"Readability is essential for maintainability."

"Poor naming is symptomatic of poor design."

"We build our computer (systems) the way we build our cities: over time, without a plan, on top of ruins."

"Why do people fall downhill instead of uphill? Because that's the easiest way to fall."

"Measurability bias is the tendency to prefer options simply because they can more easily be measured. There are things that can be measured. There are things that are worth measuring. But what can be measured is not always what is worth measuring; what gets measured may have no relationship to what we really want to know. The costs of measuring may be greater than the benefits. The things that get measured may draw effort away from the things we really care about. And measurement may provide us with distorted knowledge—knowledge that seems solid but is actually deceptive."

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted"

"They don't learn by understanding but by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile"

"Its better to be bad than to be ignored."

"Art is for expression, science is for discovery, engineering is for invention, and design is for communication. "

"Fire feeds on obstacles"

"In complex domains only time, and a long time, counts as evidence"

"Don’t attribute to stupidity what can be explained by incentives"

"The internet is the only place where companies are expected to be on a level playing field with nation states"

"There are a thousands of things that can happen when you light a rocket engine. And only one of them is good"

"Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money."

"Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see"

"Your assumptions are the windows to your world. Scrub them off every now and again to let the light in"

"Start where you are, use what you have, Do what you can."

"A problem well defined is a problem half solved."

"We were intrigued by how the cellular structure of the grapefruit and the tiled structure of mollusk shells can prevent damage to the fruit or the creatures inside, despite being made of relatively weak organic building blocks"

"Successful systems often end up with the worst architecture."

""We could be dead", said Eli. "That’s a risk everyone takes by living," replied Syd"

"If something is worth doing, it’s worth delegating"

"Delegate to automation first. Delegate to people second Protip: Delegate the automation to people"

"Everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it."

"We have two eyes, two ears, and one mouth. Let’s use them in that proportion"

"In practice, good intentions rarely work as well as good incentives."

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is a choice."

"Some mistakes will be made along the way, and that's good! At least decisions are being made"

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone,"

"it should be the default that the status quo is a bad thing; instead of justifying why something should be done, the burden of proof should rest on those who believe things should remain the same."

"You can't stand still on a moving train"

"You can't get to the moon by climbing successively taller trees"

"Design is just applied science fiction"

"He who cannot howl will not find his pack"

"there's just the status quo bias that naturally ensues from "well, we have a working system; that system naturally resists change"."

"That which got you here won't get you there"

"Buttons aren't toys"

"The opposite of a good idea can be a good idea"

"Customer retention is the antidote to competition."

"A perfectly cooked steak is worthless to a vegetarian."

"If you take risks, you may fail. If you take no risks you will surely fail. The greatest risk is to do nothing."

"Once you put the rocket on the launch pad, you really want to launch it."

"The most common mistake an engineer can make is to optimize the thing which should not exist."

"Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book."

"People forget what you say and remember how you made them feel."

"It’s easier to change direction when in motion than at rest."

"Inexpensive mistake can also be a cheap education."

"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."

"Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works. We’re all biased to our own personal history."

"Avoid boring people."

"I believe, I’m no doctor though, that when you die the cancer also dies. So it's not losing. Its a draw."

"Today is the oldest you’ve ever been and the youngest you’ll ever be."

"It’s easier to teach a Do’er than motivate a Know’er"

"Democracy, which is the political version of capitalism, the markets decide. Politicians follow market signals to get elected."

"We born. We die. In between we live."

"The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best is now."

"All that is not saved, is lost."

"If you aren’t happy with a coffee you won’t be happy with a Yacht"

"There are no bad ideas, only great ideas that go terribly wrong."

"Dying is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me."

"Your Success in life will be dictated by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order."

"We choose to go to the Moon...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

"You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream."

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world."

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

"Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration."

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

"The muse visits during the act of creation, not before."

"This may be a slightly frivolous attitude, but I don't worry too much till I start to see people using log scales."

"Stable slow is better than unstable fast"

"I plan on getting old because the alternative is dying young."

"All evils are caused by insufficient knowledge."

"Well done is better than well said."

"I want a girl who uses a machete to cut through red tape"

"All data has the same problem, it comesfrom the past. Institution is required if the future is going to be different"

"David Friedman points out that people only do things for other people for three reasons – love, money, or force."

"What's great about this country is America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good."

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."

"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

"Fast learns, slow remembers. Fast proposes, slow disposes. Fast is discontinuous, slow is continuous. Fast and small instructs slow and big by accrued innovation and by occasional revolution. Slow and big controls small and fast by constraint and constancy. Fast gets all our attention, slow has all the power"

"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."

"Coming in such close contact with my own mortality had changed nothing and everything. Before my cancer was diagnosed I knew someday I would die. And I didn't know when. After, I knew someday I would die, and I didn't know when."

"It occured to me that my relationship with statistics changed, once I became one."

"Are you asking to blackmail me?"

"Experience is a good school. But the fees are high."

"Life is the moment we're living right now"

"Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition."

"People think discipline is about saying no to stuff you want, but it's actually just remembering what you really want."

"It is better that 10 guilty escape, rather than one innocent suffer"

"There's nothing more expensive than a cheap lawyer"

"The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren't any space aliens. We can't be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we're not all there is. If so, we're in big trouble."

"It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place."

"The speed of light is four inches per-clock cycle."

"I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me."

"Not all fast software is world-class, but all world-class software is fast. Performance is the killer feature."

"If God hates your guts, he grants your greatest wish"

"Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass"

"If you can't tell the right story, it doesn't matter how good your insights are"

"How do I know that it’s 100x easier to make software than to understand customers, get their attention, and sell to them? Because I know 100 engineers who can build software for every 1 founder who got 100 people to buy something."

"Perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove."

"General ambitions give you anxiety. Specific ambitions give you ambitions."

"The best way to control a cow is let him roam in a large field."

"Maybe her problems weren't so big. They just seem that way when she held them up against her eyes."

"Written communication does not constitute communication unless they confirm they read it."

"The future doesn't happen to us. It happens because of us."

"1500 years ago everyone knew the Earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago everybody knew the Earth was flat. 15 minutes ago you knew humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

"Art doesn't typically get made by happy people"

"if you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear"

"Art is getting away with it"

"You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you."

"What's the point of a Doomsday Machine if you don't tell anyone about it?"

"Just as trees grows flowers and fruit, humanity creates works of art"

"Increasingly believe that the "good, cheap, fast—choose two" maxim is devious misinformation spread by the slow. In my experience, "slow" and "expensive" usually go together. "

"Just because you lost me as a friend doesn't mean you gained me as an enemy. i'm bigger than that. i still wanna see you eat, just not at my table"

"A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others."

"Master is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it. You can only earn it through hard work."

"If it costs you your peace, it's too expensive."

"Sometimes the problem is that you are not optimistic enough."

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading"