19: A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing.

I don't know how to stop it, there was never any intent to write a programming language [...] I have absolutely no idea how to write a programming language, I just kept adding the next logical step on the way.

Job Control Language is the worst programming language ever designed anywhere by anybody for any purpose.

An infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU Emacs would never make a good program.

If there's a particular problem that Perl is trying to solve, it's the basic fact that all programming languages suck. Sort of the concept of original sin, applied to programming languages.

A person should never be satisfied with a thought God, for when the thought perishes, the God also perishes.

The inability to isolate software components from each other is the main reason why many popular programming languages cannot be used for making robust system software. (page 32)

C++ is a horrible language. It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it.

And the reason everyone doesn’t use Listp is that programming languages are not merely technologies, but habits of mind as well, and nothing changes slower.

Reliable and transparent programs are usually not in the interest of the designer.

Without a constant misuse of language, there cannot be any discovery, any progress.

The worst programs are the ones where the programmers doing the original work don't lay a solid foundation, and then they're not involved in the program in the future.

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

Jealousy is never satisfied with anything short of an omniscience that would detect the subtlest fold of the heart.