“The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.”

“The conclusion is simple: if a 200-man project has 25 managers who are the most competent and experienced programmers,fire the 175 troops and put the managers back to programming.”

“A basic principle of data processing teaches the folly of trying to maintain independent files in synchonism.”

“The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Few media of creation are so flexible, so easy to polish and rework, so readily capable of realizing grand conceptual structures.”

“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”

“A baseball manager recognizes a nonphysical talent, hustle, as an essential gift of great players and great teams. It is the characteristic of running faster than necessary, moving sooner than necessary, trying harder than necessary. It is essential for great programming teams, too.”

“Believing in him is not the same as believing things about him such as that he was born of a virgin and raised Lazarus from the dead. Instead, it is a matter of giving our hearts to him, of come hell or high water putting our money on him, the way a child believes in a mother or a father, the way a mother or a father believes in a child.”