The great tragedy of science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.

The great tragedy of science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.

I think complexity is mostly sort of crummy stuff that is there because it's too expensive to change the interface.

I think complexity is mostly sort of crummy stuff that is there because it's too expensive to change the interface.

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.

The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.

The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -E. Rutherford.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -E. Rutherford.

Man's fear of ideas is probably the greatest dike holding back human knowledge and happiness.

Man's fear of ideas is probably the greatest dike holding back human knowledge and happiness.

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

I find sitting at a specially equipped desk in front of some pretty ugly plastics and staring at a little read more

I find sitting at a specially equipped desk in front of some pretty ugly plastics and staring at a little window is a very unnatural event.

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. read more

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. In my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.