Why bother with subroutines when you can type fast? — Programming

"There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works."

"No matter how slick the demo is in rehearsal, when you do it in front of a live audience, the probability of a flawless presentation is inversely proportional to the number of people watching, raised to the power of the amount of money involved."

"On two occasions I have been asked, – "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

"Structured Programming supports the law of the excluded muddle."

"To me programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge."

"Computer programs are the most intricate, delicately balanced and finely interwoven of all the products of human industry to date. They are machines with far more moving parts than any engine: the parts dont wear out, but they interact and rub up against one another in ways the programmers themselves cannot predict."