It's a dangerous skill to be good at convincing yourself that you don't want things you worry you might not get. Useful in some areas perhaps, but di… - Paul Graham

A good programming language should have features that make the kind of people who use the phrase “software engineering” shake their heads disapprovingly.

Architects know that some kinds of design problems are more personal than others. One of the cleanest, most abstract design problems is designing bridges. There your job is largely a matter of spanning a given distance with the least material. The other end of the spectrum is designing chairs. Chair designers have to spend their time thinking about human butts.

The world changes fast, and the rate at which it changes is itself speeding up. In such a world it's not a good idea to have fixed plans.