I do not fear failure. I only fear the “slowing up” of the engine inside of me which is pounding, saying, “Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?”

General George S. Patton

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.

Don’t bail: the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap.

Randy Pausch, the Last Lecture

Update: Sorry, Randy, I couldn’t do it.

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough.

Randy Pausch, the Last Lecture

1. Write down the problem.
2. Think very hard.
3. Write down the answer.

Generally speaking, people provide better maintenance for their cars than for their own bodies.

Scott Adams, The Dilbert Future

“The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler, author and futurist

Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.

Something I’ve learned while struggling to change our Wild, Wild West development process at Objectware:

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.

I often keep track of particularly good commencement addresses because of their insight and motivational value. Steve Jobs, of Apple Computer, recently gave such a commencement address to Stanford University graduates. An important excerpt:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.