“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.”

“Computational processes are abstract beings that inhabit computers. As they evolve, processes manipulate other abstract things called data. The evolution of a process is directed by a pattern of rules called a program. People create programs to direct processes. In effect, we conjure the spirits of the computer with our spells.”

“The creator of Sir John Falstaff, of Hamlet, and of Rosalind also makes me wish I could be more myself. But that, as I argue throughout this book, is why we should read, and why we should read only the best of what has been written.”

“There's a good part of Computer Science that's like magic. Unfortunately there's a bad part of Computer Science that's like religion.”

“If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.”

“As an addict who will read anything, I obeyed, but I am not saved, and return to tell you neither what to read nor how to read it, only what I have read and think worthy of rereading, which may be the only pragmatic test for the canonical.”

“The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers. ”