RSSAll Entries in the "Quotes" Category

Quoteworthy: George Orwell on “Scrupulous Writing”

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?”
Politics and the English Language, 1946
— George Orwell

Quoteworthy: Dave West – Agility is Responsiveness to Change

There isn’t just one agile: “Agile” is really the ability to respond to change in the most effective way, considering the restraints of the environment in which you’re working.
- Dave West

Quoteworthy: John D. Rockefeller Jr.

The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.
- John D. Rockefeller

Quoteworthy: Blaine Lee

Before you attempt to set things right, make sure you see things right.
- Blaine Lee

Quotable: Arnold Toynbee

Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can be aroused by two things: first, an idea which takes the imagination by storm; and second, a definite, intelligible plan for carrying that idea into action.
- Arnold Toynbee

Quoteworthy: The bitterness of poor quality

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of meeting the schedule has been forgotten.
– Anonymous

Quoteworthy: Karl Popper

It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.
- Karl Popper

Quoteworthy: Kulak & Guinney

An appropriate and complete requirements specification does nothing to ensure a successful implementation; however, it makes it possible.
- Kulak & Guinney

Quoteworthy: Joseph Joubert

Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything that they do not make more clear.
- Joseph Joubert

Quotable: Whitney Young

It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.
- Whitney Young

Quoteworthy: Jim Brosseau

There will never be “the right approach” for all projects. Software projects come in too many shapes and sizes. There are too many cultures, and just too many reasons for developing software, even within individual organizations. There is no Holy Grail, but many approaches can be “a reasonable approach,” depending on the situation.
- Jim Brosseau [...]

Quoteworthy: Alistair Cockburn

Agile …  is an attitude, not a technique with boundaries. An attitude has no boundaries, so we wouldn’t ask “can I use agile here”, but rather “how would I act in the agile way here?” or “how agile can we be, here?”
- Alistair Cockburn

Quotable: Herbert Kaufman

Failure is only postponed success as long as courage ‘coaches’ ambition. The habit of persistence is the habit of victory.
- Herbert Kaufman

Quoteworthy: H.L. Mencken on Simple Solutions to Complex Problems

For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
- H.L. Mencken

Quoteworthy: Leadership

A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves.
- Unknown

Quoteworthy: Douglas Adams

I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
- Douglas Adams

Quoteworthy: Margaret Fuller

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.
- Margaret Fuller

Quoteworthy: Margot Fonteyn

The most important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative, and the second disastrous.
- Margot Fonteyn

Quoteworthy: Erik Christopher Zeeman

Technical skill is mastery of complexity while creativity is mastery of simplicity.
- Erik Christopher Zeeman

Quoteworthy: Abraham Lincoln

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
- Abraham Lincoln

Quoteworthy: Seymour Papert

Anything is easy, if you can assimilate it to your collection of models.
- Seymour Papert

Quoteworthy: Thomas Edison

There is a better way to do it; find it.
- Thomas Edison

Quoteworthy: Gustavus F. Swift

Don’t let the best you have done so far be the standard for the rest of your life.
- Gustavus F. Swift