Gerald M. Weinberg Quotes

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has Its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be In awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. - Albert Einstein (From “Death of a Genius,” by William Miller, LIFE Magazine, May 2, 1955 © 1955 Time Inc.)

Human knowledge is by necessity incomplete. We cannot know in advance what we might be able to know and what might be essentially unknowable. But of one thing we can be sure: if we do not try to find things out, we shall never succeed.

Although technology often leads science in discovery, the philosophy of technology is usually drawn from the scientific philosophy of its time. In our time, the technology of machines has drawn its inspiration from mechanics, dealing with complexity by reducing the number of relevant parts. The technology of government, on the other hand, has drawn upon statistical mechanics, creating simplicity by dealing only with people in the structureless mass, as interchangeable units, and taking averages.

Survival requires that we learn to laugh things off and start over

you don’t have to be a boss to be a leader

The social science that provides us with the most useful overall model for computer programming is anthropology. With a little artistic license and stretching of the imagination, we could imagine computer programmers as having a culture — a shared set of beliefs and activities which shape their day-to-day activities.

If you are a leader, the people are your work. There is no other work worth doing.* One

The Hawthorne Effect (“the process of being observed often motivates people to better performance”) can be the bane of scientific observation.

Books are no substitute for experience working with people, so now that you've read this book on leadership, go out and interact with people before you read any more.

Good testing involves balancing the need to mitigate risk against the risk of trying to gather too much information.

When is the 'look out the windshield phase' of driving? Pretty much all driving is looking out the windshield! It's not a phase. Saying 'testing takes too long' is a bit like saying 'safe driving takes too long.

The best computer programmers never write a new program when they can use an old one for a new job.

In this business, it takes all the running you can do just to stay in the same place.

Victor Hugo once said that nothing in this world was so powerful as an idea whose time has come. In our time, the idea is technology, especially information processing technology. The programmer partakes of this technology power

Blaming someone else will only put the solution further out of reach.