We all use imperfect software every day; little frustrations mentally accumulate in a way that little victories do not.

Eric Lippert

Free Will chooses causes, Fate handles consequences.

There is an incremental person who, when added to a project, makes it take longer, not less time.
Brook's law, by Fred Brooks, Mythical Man-Month

Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.
Occam's razor

One key to effective programming is learning to make mistakes quickly, learning from them each time. Making a mistake is no sin. Failing to learn from a mistake is.

Steve McConnell, Code Complete, Second Edition

Make things as simple as possible—but no simpler.
Albert Einstein

It's easy to confuse motion with progress, busy-ness with being productive. The most important work in effective programming is thinking, and people tend not to look busy when they're thinking. If I worked with a programmer who looked busy all the time, I'd assume that he was not a good programmer because he wasn't using his most valuable tool, his brain.

Steve McConnell, Code Complete, Second Edition

The whole job of programming is building air castles—it's one of the most purely mental activities you can do.
Steve McConnell, Code Complete, Second Edition

Having goals is a pain in the neck.
[...]
Not having a goal lets you make a ruckus, or have more fun, or spend time doing what matters right now, which is, after all, the moment in which you are living.
The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run.

It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact... those people have goals.

The thing about goals, Seth Godin

Good character is mainly a matter of having the right habits. To be a great programmer, develop the right habits and the rest will come naturally.
Steve McConnell, Code Complete, Second Edition

C++ is a wonderful language that I enjoy using daily. [...] C++ has more power than any of us can handle all at once. I doubt that there are more than half a dozen people on the planet (and I have specific names in mind here) who are true experts in the entirety of C++, from the core language to all the facets (pun intended) of the standard library. Most of the rest of us can only aspire to know a few narrow areas in depth and the whole reasonably well.
Fortunately, there's no need for us to all be Stroustrups or Koenigs to get concrete benefits from C++. Just avoid the dusty corners of the language, and remember that cuteness hurts in many ways. Above all, "write what you know, and know what you write," and you'll certainly do well!

Herb Sutter, Advice From the C++ Experts: Write What You Know, and Know What You Write

Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.
Mark Twain

The bottom line on experience is this: if you work for 10 years, do you get 10 years of experience or do you get 1 year of experience 10 times?

Steve McConnell, Code Complete, Second Edition

If you want to be great, you're responsible for making yourself great. It's a matter of your personal character.

Steve McConnell, Code Complete, Second Edition

If you see hoof prints, think horses—not zebras. The OS is probably not broken. And the database is probably just fine.

Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmer

If you can't explain something to a six-year-old, you really don't understand it yourself.

Albert Einstein

I have never met anyone who can do Scheme, Haskell, and C pointers who can't pick up Java in two days, and create better Java code than people with five years of experience in Java, but try explaining that to the average HR drone.
Joel Spolsky, The Perils of JavaSchools

Stay hungry, stay foolish.
The Whole Earth Catalog, 1974 edition.

Continuous improvement is better than deferred perfection.
Probably Mark Twain's. Heard on software development conference 'Agile Summer 2008'.