Donald Knuth Quotes & Sayings

“Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love something you can put beauty into it.”

“People think that computer science is the art of geniuses but the actual reality is the opposite, just many people doing things that build on eachother, like a wall of mini stones.”

“Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.”

“In fact what I would like to see is thousands of computer scientists let loose to do whatever they want. That's what really advances the field.”

“An algorithm must be seen to be believed.”

“The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable language.”

“The hardest thing is to go to sleep at night, when there are so many urgent things needing to be done. A huge gap exists between what we know is possible with today's machines and what we have so far been able to finish.”

“If you optimize everything, you will always be unhappy.”

“A list is only as strong as its weakest link.”

“I currently use Ubuntu Linux, on a standalone laptop - it has no Internet connection. I occasionally carry flash memory drives between this machine and the Macs that I use for network surfing and graphics; but I trust my family jewels only to Linux.”