Dennis Ritchie

UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity.

The great thing about Unix is that it was built by professionals, for professionals.

It is not the computer's fault that it cannot think; it is our fault for not asking it the right questions.

When I read commentary about suggestions for where C should go, I often think back and give thanks that it wasn't developed under the advice of a worldwide crowd.

The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable language.

One of the advantages of using C is that it's easy to write programs that don't work.

I'm not a person who particularly had heros when I was growing up. I'm not a hero-worshipper.

The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities.

What we wanted to preserve was not just a good environment in which to do programming, but a system around which a fellowship could form.

C is a reasonably good language; it has its flaws, but it's been incredibly successful.

The most important single change to C was the addition of the type structure from BCPL.

I'm not a visionary. I'm an engineer. I'm happy with the people who are wandering around looking at the stars but I'm looking at the ground and I want to fix the pothole before I fall in.

The rise of UNIX is a direct result of the fact that it was written by programmers for programmers.

The best book on programming for the layman is 'Alice in Wonderland'; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.

Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute.

We wanted to preserve not just a good programming environment, but a system around which a fellowship could form.

The key to performance is elegance, not battalions of special cases.

It's hard to improve on the simplicity and utility of the pipe.

C has the power of assembly language and the convenience of... assembly language.

I suppose you could say we were in the right place at the right time, but we also worked very hard.