Some of my favorite quotes that stuck with me forever. Alphabetical, does not include song lyrics.

People#

• Ethics is informal politics. (own)
• Everything before the word “but” is bullshit.
• I don’t believe in zero-sum games. (Scott Alexander)
• I think it’s really important to not have an opinion on things you don’t know much about. (Yi Sun)
• People only exist when you need them.

Design#

• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. (George Orwell)
• It is better to be technically elegant with a higher learning curve, than to be easy to use, and technically crap. (Aaron Griffin)
• Measured simply by numbers of users, the current leaders [in almost any field] will be mostly mediocre. Look at Windows. (Paul Graham)
• Perfect is the enemy of good enough.
• Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Processes#

• Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
• Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small trivial project, and you should never expect it to get large. (Linus Torvalds)
• Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. (recounted by Dwight Eisenhower)
• Practice energy management, not time management.
• The most competent people, with weak processes, will screw up. (Chris Peterson)

Advice#

• If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, I wouldn’t say anything. (Eric Lander, paraphrased¹)
• I told him that he cannot see the future because there’s nothing there to see; it hasn’t been built, yet. The future is something that emerges as we build it, even as we are thrown into it. (Chris Peterson)
• Talk is cheap. Show me the code. (Linus Torvalds)
• You only need other people to give you advice that surprises you. That’s why there are a lot of ski instructors and not many running instructors. (Paul Graham)