Ken Thompson

I think the UNIX philosophy is, 'Keep it simple, stupid.'

The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

It's easier to port a shell than a kernel.

I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with good habits.

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.

Don't trust code you didn't write yourself.

I'm a firm believer that you learn more from your mistakes than from your successes.

The only way to understand a system is to build it.

Good design is as little design as possible.

The most important thing in software development is to get something working quickly.

I don't care about the language; I care about the problem.

The best programs are those that are small and do one thing well.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

The only way to make progress is to be willing to make mistakes.

I've always been a fan of building tools that build other tools.

The beauty of UNIX is that it's a toolkit.

It's not about how many lines of code you write, it's about how few.

I'm not a fan of complexity.

The best way to debug a program is to write it correctly in the first place.

The only way to get good at something is to practice.