Ken Thompson

You don't just write code for the computer; you write code for other people to read.

I don't care about the details, just the big picture.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

The computer is a tool, not a master.

The purpose of a program is to transform input into output.

There's no such thing as a perfect program.

The most powerful programming language is the one you know best.

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.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.