"That's the thing about people who think they hate computers. What they really hate is lousy programmers."
— Larry Niven

"It is not enough for code to work."
— Robert C. Martin (Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship)

"A task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion."
— Parkinson's Law

"We see a lot of feature-driven product design in which the cost of features is not properly accounted. Features can have a negative value to customers because they make the products more difficult to understand and use. We are finding that people like products that just work. It turns out that designs that just work are much harder to produce that designs that assemble long lists of features."
— Douglas Crockford (JavaScript: The Good Parts)

"The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed."
— Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values)

"More importantly, our software worked. I don't just mean that it didn't bump, or that it performed according to the written specifications, or that it was efficient in producing reports. It really worked"
— Eliyahu M. Goldratt (The Goal)