Grace Murray Hopper
A pioneer in computer programming, she developed the first compiler and co-developed COBOL.
Most quoted
"I had a very good friend who said, 'I don't know how you can stand to work with computers, they're so impersonal.' I told her, 'It's the people I work with who are impersonal; the computers are very cooperative.'"
— from Attributed
"We're flooding people with information. We need to feed it through a processor. A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge. We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question."
— from Speech, 1982
"In pioneer days they used oxen for heavy pulling, and when one ox couldn't budge a log, they didn't try to grow a larger ox. We shouldn't be trying for bigger computers, but for more systems of computers."
— from Speech, 1981
All quotes by Grace Murray Hopper (302)
We don't have to be afraid of change. We have to be afraid of not changing.
We are at the beginning of a new age, an age of information.
The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.
I'm a great believer in the young people. They're going to do it.
The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know.
We've got to teach people how to think, not what to think.
The computer is a marvelous tool, but it's only a tool.
I'm not sure I'm a pioneer. I just did what I thought was right.
We need to get rid of the idea that we can't do something.
The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.
I've been accused of being a maverick, but I don't think I am. I just do what I think is right.
It's much easier to get forgiveness than permission.
I'm not afraid of anything. I just keep going.
The greatest contribution we can make is to teach the next generation.
We're going to have to learn to live with computers, not just use them.
The future is in the hands of the young people.
Don't worry about being perfect. Just get it done.
I'm not a genius. I just work hard.
The best way to get something done is to begin.
We need to stop thinking about computers as machines and start thinking about them as tools.
Contemporaries of Grace Murray Hopper
Other Computer Sciences born within 50 years of Grace Murray Hopper (1906–1992).