Quotes, Proverbs and Smart words from Smart people

Miscellaneous

Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning. Erwin Rommel

We make a living by what we earn - we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill

You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player. - Jose Capablanca

If you want to be part of that 1%, then you’re gonna have to do what 99% people dont do!. - Magnus Carlsen

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

If there is one thing life has taught me, it’s that there’s always room to grow.

From the movie “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania”

If you owe the bank $10,000, you have a problem—but if you owe the bank $10 billion, the bank has a problem.

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain.. - Vivian Greene

If something seems possible, that’s probably because someone is already doing it. When something seems that it can’t possibly work, nobody tries it. Real innovation happens when someone tries anyway, overlooking an obvious flaw, and finds a way to make an idea work. – Joel Spolsky

If you take the high road, it is never crowded.

There are three stages to a man’s life: Stud, Dud, Thud.

Representative democracy : A democracy that only represents those who know to show up at meetings most people never hear about, and so ends up handing power to special interests and aggrieved NIMBYs.

Doing is more fun than watching; doing well is more fun than simply doing.

Everyone has a plan - until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

The key to discoveries is to look at those places where there is still a paradox. Its like the tip of an iceberg. If there is a point of dissatisfaction, take a closer look at it. You are likely to find a treasure trove underneath. - Erdal Arikan

“..for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” ― George Eliot, Middlemarch

Believe in your fucking self. Stay up all fucking night. Work outside of your fucking habits. Know when to fucking speak up. Fucking collaborate. Do not fucking procrastinate. Get over your fucking self. Keep fucking learning. Form follows fucking function. A computer is a Lite-Brite for bad fucking ideas. Find fucking inspiration everywhere. Fucking network. Educate your fucking client. Trust your fucking gut. Ask for fucking help. Make it fucking sustainable. Question fucking everything. Have a fucking concept. Learn to take some fucking criticism. Make me fucking care. Use fucking spell check. Do your fucking research. Sketch more fucking ideas. The problem contains the fucking solution. Think about all the fucking possibilities.

Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you - Buddha

There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been : A people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful, and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive, and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death. It is a weakening and discoloring idea, that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time - or even knew selflessness or courage or literature - but that it is too late for us. In fact, the absolute is available to everyone in every age. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less - Annie Dillard, For the time being.

When riches begin to come, they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years - Napoleon Hill

…the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept - Athenian Delegation

…it is a general and necessary law of nature to rule whatever one can - Athenian Delegation

Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge is a pleasure - Tacitus C, 55-120 AD

To have ultimate victory, you must be ruthless - Napolean Bonaparte 1769 - 1821

Do not commit yourself to anybody or anything, for that is to be a slave, a slave to every man.. Above all, keep yourself free of commitments and obligations - they are the device of another to get you into his power - Baltasar Gracian, 1601 - 1658

The Reality : Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of luck, a fair amount of self-sacrifice, and lots of patience. The Fantasy : A sudden transformation will bring a total change in one’s fortunes, bypassing work, luck, self-sacrifice, and time in on fantastic stroke.

…there is often someone behind the scenes who has a great deal of power, a tremendous influence over the person superficially on top. These behind-the-scenes powerbrokers are the group’s weak link. Win their favor and you indirectly influence the king.

Desire often creates paradoxical effects : The more you want something, the more you chase after it, the more it eludes you. The more interest you show, the more you repel the object of your desire. This is because your interest is too strong - it makes people awkward, even fearful. Uncontrollable desire makes you seem weak, unworthy, pathetic.

…showing his wealth only on the inside of his house.

Everything in seduction depends on suggestion. You cannot announce your intentions or reveal them directly in words.

When the great lord passes, the wise peasant bows deeply and silently farts - Ethiopian proverb.

Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived - Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469 - 1527

When you want to fight us, we do not let you and you cannot find us. But when we want to fight you, we make sure that you cannot get away and we hit you squarely… and wipe you out… The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue - Mai Tse-tung, 1893 - 1976

Bad news hits hardest when things are going well.

He whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make promising.

Probability was a consequence of human ignorance in a deterministic universe where everything unfolded according to the laws of nature.

We need to think about things from first principles instead of formulas - Zero to one.

If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there is a chance you may contribute to making a better world a better place - Noam Chomsky

A single leaf alone provides no shade - Chuck Page

No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it - Tricia Cunningham

The American dream was Every man gets his castle.

If you can hunker down and not suffer, you’ll have less empathy for those who can’t.

There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul. — Victor Hugo

Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in frame, unlimited in space and indefinite in duration. — DeWitt Clinton

The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity. — Miguel de Cervantes

When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.

He who laughs last laughs best.

Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today. - James Dean

If dreams are pursued too recklessly, sometimes there is a risk of annihilation.

And we must avoid annihilation at all costs.

The problem with justice, or even the pursuit of justice, in the U.S. is that it costs. A lot.

Knowing how the deck is stacked for or against you is one thing; doing something about it is another.

If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. - Stephen R. Covey

The path to greatness starts in the mind.

The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun. — Ludwig van Beethoven

Comparison (with others) is the death of joy. - Mark Twain

Life-changing quotes

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead - Oscar Wilde

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud - Maya Angelou

I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail - Murial Strode

If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced - Vincent Van Gogh

Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you - Jesus

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If the wind will not serve, take to the oars - Latin Proverbs

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else - Chinese proverb

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the thing that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do; so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover - Mark Twain

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear - Rosa Parks

I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy - Reinhold Niebuhr

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity - Henry van Dyke

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him - Booker T Washington

You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing, no one to blame - Erice Jong

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up - Pablo Picasso

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference - Reinhold Niebuhr

Find a place inside where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain - Joseph Campbell

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed - Heraditus

The unexamined life is not worth living - Socrates

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light - Aristotle

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances - Aristotle

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others - Pericles

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor - Aristotle

People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die - Plato

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light - Plato

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts - Aristotle

It is not living that matters, but living rightly - Socrates

Quotes about Courage and Bravery

https://graciousquotes.com/bravery/

Quotes About Conquer

Conquer yourself and you have conquered the world. –Augustine of Hippo

Energy and persistence conquer all things. - Benjamin Franklin

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. –Dale Carnegie

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. –Edmund Hillary

No one knows what you have been through or what your pretty little eyes have seen, but I can reassure you ~ whatever you have conquered, it shines through your mind. - Nikki Rowe

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. - Plato

The only way to conquer fear is to face it head-on. - Sarah J. Maas

The sin in our lives that we fail to conquer will eventually conquer us. –Warren W. Wiersbe

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love. –Mahatma Gandhi

TODO

From Abraham Lincoln

If for this you and I must differ, differ we must - Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln rebuked his friend for failing to oppose slavery. But he added: “If for this you and I must differ, differ we must,” and said they would be friends forever. Throughout his life and political career, Lincoln often agreed to disagree.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/75574785

About Wisdom and Thinking

give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe

leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today

the best way to predict your future is to create it

things may come to those who wait but only the things left by those who Hustle

when you feel discouraged seek healing and labor

that some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well

better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt

in the end it is not not the years in your life that count it’s the life in your years

no man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent

always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing

we can complain because rose bushes have of thorns or Rejoice because Thorn bushes have roses

I am rather inclined to silence and whether that be wise or not it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot

in this sad world of ours sorrow comes to all and to the young it comes with bitterest Agony because it takes them unawares the older have learn to ever expect it

if I am killed I can die but once but to live in constant dread of it is to die over and over again

I am a slow Walker but I never walk back

do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends

Abraham Lincoln Quotes about Leadership and Authority:

nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character give him power

no man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar

America will never be destroyed from the outside if we falter and lose our freedoms it will be because we destroyed ourselves

I don’t like that man; I must get to know him better.

you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time; but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time

whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him

From Benjamin Franklin

an investment in knowledge pays the best interest

by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail

honesty is the best policy

it takes many Good Deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it

tell me and I forget teach me and I may remember involve me and I learn

no gains without pains

early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise

he that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas

well done is better than well said

love your enemies for they tell you your faults

a right heart exceeds all

lost time is never found again

never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today

in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes

he that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else

the Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness you have to catch it yourself

beware of little expenses a small leak will sink a great ship

pardoning the bad is injuring the good

we must indeed all hang together or most assuredly we shall all hang separately

beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy

do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen

keep in the sunlight

diligence is the mother of good luck

The moment we begin to believe in our own greatness is the moment we kill our ability to be truly creative. - The artist Marina Abramović

That whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must remain silent. - Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle

From the TV series Jack Ryan

You don’t like me. You think you are the good guy, I am the bad guy. Maybe you are right. But maybe, if I was born in a nice city in America, I could be the good guy too. Geography is destiny, my friend. The world is the kiln, we are the clay. - Tony (a person with brown skin) says to Jack Ryan

The people closest to the problem are also closest to the solution

Show me a happy loser, and I’ll show you a loser.

I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity. - John D. Rockefeller

Do what you feel in your heart to be right-for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Arrogance is ego plus ignorance.

Chickens of a feather agree together.

You are what you eat. You become what you study. Choose what you study carefully.

Never ask an encyclopedia salesperson if you need an encyclopedia.

There seem to be victims all around us, but no crimes or criminals ever linked to the suffering.

Remember, the easy road often becomes hard, and the hard road often becomes easy.

The greenest energy is the energy we don’t use.

Humans are very good at finding reasons to be bad and making mountains of morality out of molehills of virtue.

You are paid in proportion to the magnitude of the problems that you solve. - Elon Musk

That which we can be, we must be. - Abraham Maslow

You could fill a book with all I know, but with all I don’t know, you could fill a library.

We may have studied Shakespeare in school, but we have little sense for the tragic possibilities of life.

Hope is not a strategy.

Quotes from the Netflix show “The Black Godfather”

You either join the country club or you remain a goddamn caddy. I am not a fucking caddy. Period. - Clarence Avant

One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.

THE BRILLIANT SATIRIST Alexander Pope once wrote: “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”

As the author and journalist Upton Sinclair once noted, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

As the Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann once said, “Think how hard physics would be if particles could think.”

An inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold - ancient Chinese proverb

Knowledge by itself is not power. Its a myth. At best, it is potential power. Knowledge becomes power when you apply it - when you execute on it. Knowledge times action is power.

“Compatibility means deliberately repeating other people’s mistakes.” - David Wheeler (computer scientist)

The road is hard that leads to life. Those that find it are few. Sometimes the hard choice is the right choice.

The movie O.G.

Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowes

No one is going to be albe to beat you at being you.

At work (or anywhere else in general), if you try to behave like someone else, if you try to pronounce words like someone else, if you try to dress like someone else, you are going to be spending so much energy on that.

You will not be able to do any more work than you normally would. But by the end of the day, you are going to be exhausted. It is a waste of your energy.

Be genuine and honest. Be yourself. And people will appreciate that and they will start listening to you.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality - Seneca, the younger

Recipes for avoiding self destruction and self paralysis are at least as important as recipes for success.

Your choices are only as good as your options are. - from the movie “Little Woods”

A good life is having half of what you want and all of what you need. - Working, a Netflix series

The problem with being good is you become indispensable. - The movie “Burnt”

After the Great Recession, we went through a decade in which economic life was defined by a lack of demand. Now, after the COVID recession, we’ve entered a period in which economic life is defined by a lack of supply.

Science fiction author William Gibson famously said that the future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed.

Double a penny once a day and you reach $1 million in less than a month. That is what exponential growth looks like with a base of two.

Mere creation of such a database, especially in secret, profoundly changed the balance of power between government and governed. This was the Dark Mirror embodied, one side of the glass transparent and the other blacked out. If the power implications do not seem convincing, try inverting the relationship in your mind: What if a small group of citizens had secret access to the telephone logs and social networks of government officials? How might that privileged knowledge affect their power to shape events? How might their interactions change if they possessed the means to humiliate and destroy the careers of the persons in power? Capability matters, always, regardless of whether it is used. An unfired gun is no less lethal before it is drawn. And in fact, in history, capabilities do not go unused in the long term. Chekhov’s famous admonition to playwrights is apt not only in drama, but in the lived experience of humankind. The gun on display in the first act—nuclear warheads, weaponized disease, Orwellian cameras tracking faces on every street—must be fired in the last. The latent power of new inventions, no matter how repellent at first, does not lie forever dormant in government armories.

Robert Greene

…a woman who is interested in a man wants to see that other women are interested in him, too. Not only does that give him instant value, it makes it all the more satisfying to snatch him from their clutches

By saying less than necessary, you create the appearance of meaning and power. Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something foolish, even dangerous

… view all those around you as pawns in your rise to the top. You cannot let yourself become the lackey for any cause

In any organization, it is inevitable for a small group to hold the strings. And often it is not those with the titles. In the game of power, only the fool flails about without fixing his target. You must find out who controls the operations, who is the real director behind the scenes

If you think it important to do all the work yourself, you will never get far, and you will suffer the fate of the Balboas and Teslas of the world. Find people with the skills and creativity you lack. Either hire him, while putting your own name on top of theirs, or find a way to take their work and make it your own. Their creativity thus becomes yours, and you seem a genius to the world

To reveal the true nature of your intelligence rarely pays; you should get in the habit of downplaying it at all times. If people inadvertently learn the truth - that you are actually much smarter than you look - they will admire you more for being discreet than for making your brilliance show

Never associate with those who share your defects - they will reinforce everything that holds you back. Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world

Learn to control yourself, to restrain your natural tendency to take sides and join the fight. Be friendly and charming to each of the combatants, then step back as they collide. With every battle, they grow weaker, while you grow stronger with every battle you avoid

Learn to play many roles, to be whatever the moment requires. Adapt your mask to the situation - be protean in the faces you wear. Bismarck played this game to perfection : To a liberal, he was a liberal; to a hawk, he was a hawk; He could not be grasped, and what cannot be grasped cannot be consumed

The character you seem to have been born with is not necessarily who you are; beyond the characteristics you have inherited, your parents, your friends, and your peers have helped to shape your personality. The Promethean task of the powerful is to take control of the process, to stop allowing others that ability to limit and mold them. Remake yourself into a character of power. Working on yourself like clay should be one of your greatest and most pleasurable life tasks. It makes you, in essence, an artist - an artist creating yourself

Nikola Tesla

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.

Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.

Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves.

My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration.

All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed - only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

I am credited with being one of the hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labour, for I have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. But if work is interpreted to be a definite performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I may be the worst of idlers.

I don’t care that they stole my idea.. I care that they don’t have any of their own.

Life is and will ever remain an equation incapable of solution, but it contains certain known factors.

What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife… Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment.

If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world.

So astounding are the facts in this connection, that it would seem as though the Creator, himself had electrically designed this planet…

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success… Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.

If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have the key to the universe.

George Orwell

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.

A man may drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more so because he drinks.

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. - Politics and the English Language

Does a macho man ever cry?

Its ok for macho man to show every emotion available right there because I’ve cried a thousand times and I’m gonna cry some more. I’ve soared with the eagles and I’ve slithered with the snakes and I’ve been everywhere in between. There’s one guarantee in life, that there are no guarantees… but nobody likes a quitter… nobody said life was easy. So if you get knocked down, take the standing 8-count, get back up and fight again. And you are a macho man. - Macho man Randy Savage

Roger Federer

In the best of times, even when I was world number one for many, many weeks and months in a row, at certain times during the year, I said, what can I improve? What do I need to change? Because, if you don’t do anything or you just do the same thing over and over again, you stay the same. And staying the same means going backwards because the other guys are working hard and improving. So I always needed to find ways to improve my game as well.

I don’t think it’s enough just to love it and then just to do it and go out and win it. Its not that simple. You need to have structured goals. You need to tell yourself, okay, what are my goals for the short term? What are my goals for the long term? Now that I’ve accomplished almost everything, I’m supposed to go out on the tennis court thinking, let’s just pay free and just hit the ball. Who cares? But this is not how you are going to win matches because it comes down to margins. And you have to be so clear in your mind exactly what you want to do and what you want to achieve. And for me, it doesn’t work without any goals, without any targets, I cannot compete properly.

Its ok to lose, but you still want it badly. And I think that combination got me to win tonight.

Confidence can help in a big way. Because you might be actually not feeling great physically or you are drained mentally, but the confidence somehow gets you through. And when you don’t have confidence, thats when you have to sort of trust all the hard work you have done and you have to keep on working hard so success comes back. That is when it becomes tricky. When confidence sort of totally leaves you or you doubt your confidence.

How I stay motivated? I think for me, it is actually quite easy because I get a chance to play on center courts around the world. I’ve seen a lot of the places many times, so I have a lot of friends that I have in each city that I visit. And then training, thats where I think it is most challenging to make. Training is exciting. So I try to practice in new places, have fun, practice partners. And the team is super crucial for me. They are the ones that tell me - lets do the running, lets do the jumping, lets do this exercise in tennis today. This is what we do in treatment today. All these things make it so worthwhile then. And then if you win a little bit, its more fun.

My overall game, I have to come to the net. I have to try to finish. I have to try to take chances. To me, it seemed like there was more positives than negatives. And if my dream was really to become a professional tennis player, maybe I felt I should do it even though I had a great set up in Basel at home. And then when I went, it was very exciting, scary in some ways, because I was only 14 years old and I was in a foster family from Monday to Fridays and only came home on the weekends. And I remember crying on the train because I knew I was not going to see my family for five days when I came back on Friday. I was so happy, finally, I could leave again. So the first six months were pretty brutal, actually.

I am not sure if my goal was to play pretty or play beautiful. I wanted to win. I am a winner. And thats what the purpose is. If I play tennis, I go out there and I play good tennis and I try to entertain the crowd.

Yeah, it is difficult to get used to that recognition and the awareness that everybody might know you. But especially in this day and age with social media and everybody having a phone almost all the time taking pictures, it becomes tricky. But I think I’ve been able to remain the person I am, and I stay very grounded. So I don’t see that sex symbol kind of guy anyway. I don’t feel that way. I feel like a normal guy who just happens to be quite successful. But it has to start with your family. They’ve given me everything on my way, and they’ve given me the opportunity. And at the end, I guess I believe I could do it because of the people around me. So I am happy, I listen to them.

It is very important to move on. I think losses can also make you stronger. It is very important to learn from those mistakes, and then you become a better and better player. You work harder, a light goes up in your head and you go, you know what, I think I understand now what I need to improve.

Being the No.1 player in the world, having the pressure, sort of everybody expecting me to win and I think I handle it well, and that is why I don’t put myself under extra pressure and I really hope I can do well. Thats really how I look at things and not going crazy about all the different types of records. Sometimes it gets a little bit much. Red carpet, sponsors, media, it tends to get a little much for a person. But I think I handled it well. And I always said if I become No.1 in the world, I will actually start to work harder. Thats exactly what happened and I think it paid off. And I am still here today so its great.

But I think I was able to play the way I played today because of my fitness, because of my physical efforts I’ve put into it. I could not believe the balls I would be able to catch on the court through fitness. And I feel like that connected everything. The moment I became physically strong, I would get to balls I didn’t know I could get to. And then with my talent and my hand-eye coordination and my technique, I was able to pull off shots I never thought I could. And I think this is when it got really a lot of fun for me. Thats when tennis went into overdrive, I believe. So you have to find your own identity and do it your way. But you can look at them, what they did so good and maybe use that for your technique or for your game. And I think I did that very well.

Well, I’ve done so much better than I ever thought I would. It is almost strange for me to talk about what more do you want or what have you done that really surprised you? Because basically everything I’ve done has surprised me because I do come from a small village in Switzerland and we don’t think that big. I’ve done so much more than all of that, that anything I do right now is just incredible. But obviously at one point, you get used to winning so much and then you are like, okay, there’s certain things I would like to reach.

Just happy to play tennis and spend time with my friends, really. And it ended here. So its been a perfect journey. I would do it all over again.

Very rare in this day and age. I think we actually almost appreciate if that the other person exists and plays so well because it actually brings the best out of you. And I’ve been at a harder time when more and more rivals were coming up because I thought, I don’t need those guys, I’m just happy to dominate and play so well. But its nice having all these group of guys at the top right now.

I guess you do have incredible confidence in yourself sometimes but then also big doubts, where if you see another player, all you see is his strengths and weaknesses as more just like on the surface. So you don’t know truly how confident or how worried he is about his own game. So sometimes its a bit of a chess game, or I don’t want to say you pretend like you are super fit or you are super tired. You try to maybe sort of fake the guy out a little bit, because what the other guy sees might affect the way he plays. But at the end of the day, I just try to play tough and fair and then, may the better guy win.

It was only myself who could tell myself, now, Roger, you have to come down, otherwise it’s not going to last because you are losing way too much energy. So I stopped and really focused.

Working on your weaknesses maybe makes you an overall complete player, but you won’t be dangerous anymore. You can sometimes relate to that in some businesses as well. Thats why I like to work on the strengths, and its really helped me throughout my career.

I am happy I started so early. I was able to learn a lot in the beginning of my career through being on the big stage, in the big moment, meeting very influencial and important people who have taught me great things. My mom has been the big inspiration behind me, starting my own foundation at a very young age, and here we reached out ten years of the foundation. We’ve reached I think the lives of about 86,000 kids so far with quality education. And I really still feel we are at the beginning, and I hope we can achieve great things.

Quotes from super villians

I chose my path, you chose the way of the hero. And they found you amusing for a while - the people of this city. But the one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. In spite of everything you’ve done for them, eventually they will hate you. Why bother? - Green Goblin to Spiderman

Ayn Rand

There can be no causeless love or any sort of causeless emotion. An emotion is a response to a fact of reality, an estimate dictated by your standards - Atlas Shrugged

Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values

Honor is self-esteem made visible in action

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it is yours…

William Shakespeare

Divides one thing entire to many objects; Like perspectives, which rightly gazed upon Show nothing but confusion…

The Tragedy of King Richard, the Second

Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t. - The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Kautilya, Indian Philosopher, 3rd century BC

One should not be too straight-forward. Go and see the forest. The straight-forward trees are cut down, the crooked ones are left standing.

Those who seek to achieve things should show no mercy - Kautilya, Indian Philosopher, 3rd century BC

Stella: Cobb’s using me to stop you. So good people are being hurt because of me. That makes me mad. Some people think because they’re stronger, or meaner, that they can push you around. I’ve seen a lot of that. But it’s only true if you let it be. The world is what you make of it.

From the movie Silverado (1985)

Tom Brady

Reference: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/tom-brady-quotes

Hi, I’m Tom Brady, and I’m the best decision this organization has ever made.

Things don’t correct themselves, you’ve got to go out there and work hard to correct them.

Don’t rely on others. You’ll have great support from a lot of people, still. But, no one’s going to hand you anything.

You push your body to the limits, but you have to train your body to deal with the limits.

If you don’t believe in yourself why is anyone else going to believe in you?

I think sometimes in life the biggest challenges end up being the best things that happen in your life.

If you don’t play to win don’t play at all.

You guys know how many times I have been turned down in my life? To be told how many times that I couldn’t accomplish something?

I can’t do anything with what’s happened in the past. I have to just go forward with the most awareness I can going forward and trying to be the best I can be for our team.

You put all the other stuff aside and go out and do your job, and mine is to be the best I can be for my teammates.

I was crying. I’m a very emotional person; I have a deep caring for the people I’ve worked with.

Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run; every receiver is fast; but that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.

You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.

I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal.

I was the kid that was the 199th pick that never had the body for it. People didn’t think I’d play one year in the NFL, and now I’m going on my 17th year.

I’m a pretty good winner. I’m a terrible loser. And I rub it in pretty good when I win. Believe me, I’m much easier to be around when we win than when we lose.

As you get older, you have more responsibilities; you have more commitments, more events, kids, you’re married now. You still have all the things that you’ve had, plus you just keep adding.

A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations.

I didn’t come this far to only come this far, so we’ve still got further to go.

I thought I would never get a chance to play, until one time I did, because I was prepared and the opportunity presented itself.

I really do just want to win, and that has and will continue to be the reason that motivates me and is the biggest factor in my decision-making process.

Every man should know, if you’re comfortable and you like it, you should do it. Everyone always worries about what the girls think, what the guys think. If you like it, do it.

Maybe some people can wake up and play PlayStation all day, but that’s never been me.

My job is to play quarterback, and I’m going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.

If you like it you should enjoy it! Moderation in everything. If there’s things you really love, you should enjoy. You get one life, so you should enjoy it.

I think, in politics, half the people are gonna like you, and half the people are not gonna like you, no matter what you do or what you say… It’s like there are no right answers. If there were, everyone would choose the right answers. They’re all opinions.

I’m not really concerned with portraying this tough warrior - I mean, that’s part of my job and I take that very seriously. But I don’t have anything to hide, and I’m not concerned with what people think.

You never get over losses. I’ve never gotten over one loss I’ve had in my career. They always stick with me.

To score points, you need a lot of consistent effort over the course of the game. If you’re throwing it or running it in, it’s not a big difference in terms of the score at all, obviously. But turnovers limit your scoring. That’s the problem with turnovers.

I think the great part about what I do is that there’s a scoreboard. At the end of every week, you know how you did. You know how well you prepared. You know whether you executed your game plan. There’s a tangible score.

You need to think outside the box. You need to think differently if you want to sustain what, for me, is my peak performance: the very best that I can achieve as an athlete every day.

I think hygiene is so important.

I think that at the start of a game, you’re always playing to win, and then maybe if you’re ahead late in the game, you start playing not to lose. The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.

I don’t think anything about a personal legacy. I mean, those words would never come out of my mouth unless I just repeated them. Those things have never been important to me.

The biggest issue is muscle pliability. That’s what I think the biggest secret to me is. What is muscle pliability? Muscle pliability is keeping your muscles long and soft.

When you’re one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.

I always try to do as much as I can do. I’m never a person that does not enough, because I’d regret not doing enough and think I probably could have done more. I probably go too far and have to reel myself back in, which works in some things, and other things it doesn’t work.

I try to not eat as much sugar, but it’s so hard in our American diet to do that… It’s hard to completely avoid.

It’s a real strength for me that I’ve never minded the training process. It’s something I enjoy. I really like being in the gym or, certainly, on the field.

I don’t believe you could be a 39-year-old quarterback in the NFL and eat cheeseburgers every day. I want to be able to do what I love to do for a long time.

Life is not living in the suburbs with a white picket fence. That’s not life. Somehow our American culture has made it out that that’s what life needs to be - and that if it’s not that, it’s all screwed up. It’s not.

You’re not going to see my sense of humor on the football field. That’s not a place for me to joke around.

I think a lot of things that are the norm, that are very systematic, don’t work.

I’ve had just about everything punched. I’ve had things grabbed that just shouldn’t be grapped.

I have a memory, and I can just eliminate mistakes when they come up because I’ve already made them.

I don’t want to wake up and be bored. That’s probably my greatest fear is to have nothing to do. What better job is there than to play quarterback for an NFL team, and certainly one that I’ve been on for a long time and had success with? I don’t plan on giving it up any time soon.

We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it’s only us. And we’re only responsible to make ourselves happy.

Mentally, the only players who survive in the pros are the ones able to manage all their responsibilities. Everybody struggles in different ways.

With football you can have up to 28 guys you consider starters, and if they can pick up the slack when some aren’t playing so well, you don’t have to turn those two game losing streaks into six-game losing streaks.

I play a complicated position in an intensely team-oriented game.

I’m much more comfortable and confident running out on the field in front of 70,000 people instead of standing in front of a camera trying to say some lines. The people who do that as a profession are very talented because it’s certainly not easy.

After the first day of practice, there’s not one guy who’s playing at 100 percent or who feels great. Sometimes, getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth is the hardest part of the day - it just hurts.

Nothing surprises me anymore in the NFL.

If someone lies, well, you had a choice to trust that person or not. I think the way my father raised me, well, he trusted everybody. And that worked for him.

If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can’t control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I’m just not going to go outside the house. I’m going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

I’ve always been privileged to play for Coach Belichick, who I’ve always said is the best coach in the history of the league.

My personal feelings are my personal feelings. I don’t want to express them with anyone except for a very few people. It doesn’t do any good. It really doesn’t.

Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don’t get hit very often.

As a part of the NFL, things change every year.

There are times when you throw an interception and you’re beating yourself up.

The only thing I ever wanted to be was a professional football player.

I’m never going to be fast, and nobody will ever mistake me for being fast.

I think I have a certain respect for people, you know. And I guess a lot of times I expect that respect to go both ways.

I think the running game is very important to every offense. Being balanced is extremely important. There’s times where you have to throw the ball. You could be down late in the game, you need to come back; you have to be able to pass it when they know you’re passing it.

You know, watching Dan Marino and Steve Young get nominated to the Hall of Fame… those guys are unbelievable and they did it for so long. I’d love to play like those guys, but there’s still a long way to go and a lot of growing.

When I’m out on the football field, I have so much confidence in what I’m doing.

I’m not a very creative person, you know? I’m not really an art person. I’m not a great reader or writer or artist or musician.

If you’re a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

Every action has a consequence. It may be good for strengthening. And I have no doubt that lifting a lot of weights can get you stronger. I just don’t know if lifting stronger weights can keep you healthy, or it can keep you doing your job better, especially for a pro athlete.

It’s an offseason. These days are valuable for everybody.

The last person I have ever criticized is an official. They have a tough job to do. Things are happening so quick.

It’s amazing, the culture Coach Belichick has been able to create in our system.

I don’t think any country is perfect. It’s our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don’t like. I think that’s part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way.

Because my career is so important, I think I make a lot of - I wouldn’t call them sacrifices, but just concessions for my job. I love what I do,and I want to do it for a long time.

During the season, most of my time to unwind is in my car ride home. When I get home, it’s being with my kids.

There’s not much time to unwind, but you know what, it’s because I love what I do. I look forward to the season. I look forward to playing games. It doesn’t ever feel like work.

I like to have fun all the time, even if I’m working.

As for hobbies, I don’t really read or watch TV.

All I do is work out. Oh my God! Half my life is spent in a gym somewhere, sweating.

I don’t really care how the Patriots are perceived, truthfully. I really don’t. I really don’t. Look, if you’re a fan of our team, you root for us, you believe in our team, and you believe in what we’re trying to accomplish. If you’re not a fan of us, you have a different opinion.

I don’t want to say anything negative about anybody or anything or anybody’s political beliefs. I’ve never done that. I’ve never tried to get involved in those things.

For people who may think they know, or have snippets of who I am, you can attack that person. That’s part of being a public figure.

It’s a frustrating game because the situations so drastically change at different times over the course of the week, the game, the season. It feels like brain surgery at times.

I don’t even know what the issues are. I haven’t paid attention to politics in a long time. It’s actually not something that I really even enjoy. It’s way off my radar.

I think I’ve really stepped outside the box in the way I try to train, eat, hydrate, the cognitive brain games I play on a daily or weekly basis to try to build up some durability within my body, within my brain, to be able to go out there and play at a high level at age 38.

I try to encourage all my teammates, and I sure hope that some day all athletes - my kids, high school kids - get the same level of care I get. Because you can play for a long period of time without having knee replacements, without having all the major head trauma that people are dealing with.

I would love to encourage all my teammates to eat the best way they possibly can. High school athletes. Now, that’s not the way our food system in America is set up. It’s very different. They have a food pyramid, and I disagree with that. I disagree with a lot of things that people tell you to do.

I never had any coffee or anything like that. I just never tried it.

I don’t think the ebbs and flows - get in great shape and then get out of shape and then see if you can get back into shape - is a good thing. So I prefer to keep my arm always ready to go.

I really love training and being in good shape, and it’s so much a part of my life now, so it never really feels like work to me.

Everyone does things differently on offense. Everyone’s goal is to score points.

You look at another team’s style and how they do it, and you just want to understand how they’re doing it and see if you can learn something and maybe implement it into what your team does.

You can’t score if you’re turning it over. It’s like a punt. If you go out and you punt 12 times, you’re not scoring points. That’s not good. So,when you turn the ball over and throw interceptions, you’re giving the other team more opportunities and your team less opportunities.

I’d be so bored if I wasn’t going out there, knowing that I could still do it. So, I’m going to work hard to be ready to go, and I still plan on playing for a long time.

There have been so many great players that I’ve played with, that I’ve played against over the years.

I’m just glad I play for Coach Belichick. I’ve been so blessed to play for the greatest coach at a time when our organization has done incredible things. I’ve played with the best teammates. Playing for Mr. Kraft and what his influence on the team has been.

Everyone is different. Everyone has different teams they’ve played on, coaches they’ve played for.

Coaching wouldn’t be for me. No, certainly not. I like playing. I wouldn’t be a good coach. I don’t have the patience to be a coach.

I don’t want to get into it, but if you know someone, it doesn’t mean you agree with everything they say or they do.

Marshawn Lynch

Reference: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/marshawn-lynch-quotes

If you are in your everyday life, and you feel like you just accomplished something big that you had going on, then that’s Beast Mode. It’s an accomplishment, that you put yourself through something to get something better out of it. I feel that that’s Beast Mode.

I don’t play ball because I want attention. I do it because it gives me the opportunity to bust somebody’s head. And I just love to do it. I love what I do.

When a defender comes up to tackle me, I want him to feel that ground.

As a running back, it takes five offensive linemen, a tight end, a fullback and possibly two wide receivers, in order to make my job successful.

The Seahawks, their front office gets in the media; they talk a lot.

I ain’t got nothing to say. I just wanna play football.

You never want to be the one who everyone is going to bust jokes on. The only way to prevent that is to be good at something.

I don’t know what story y’all trying to get out of me. I don’t know what image y’all trying to portray of me. But it don’t matter what y’all think,what y’all say about me because when I go home at night, the same people that I look in the face - my family that I love, that’s all that really matter to me.

I’ve never seen anybody win the game in the media. But at the same time, I understand what it could do for you, if you wanted to be someone who talks a lot.

I ain’t never seen no talking winning nothing. Been like that since I was little. I was raised like that.

Michael Phelps

Reference: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/michael-phelps-quotes

David Goggins

Reference: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/david-goggins-quotes

Bjarne Stroustrup

Source: 1. https://www.stroustrup.com/quotes.html

This is to confirm genuine quotes so as to help people distinguish them from made up ones, misquote, and poor translations. Also, in some cases, to provide some context for a quote.

“C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do it blows your whole leg off”. I said something like that (in 1986 or so). What people tend to miss, is that what I said there about C++ is to a varying extent true for all powerful languages. As you protect people from simple dangers, they get themselves into new and less obvious problems. Someone who avoids the simple problems may simply be heading for a not-so-simple one. One problem with very supporting and protective environments is that the hard problems may be discovered too late or be too hard to remedy once discovered. Also, a rare problem is harder to find than a frequent one because you don’t suspect it.

“Within C++, there is a much smaller and cleaner language struggling to get out”. Yes, that quote can be found on page 207 of The Design and Evolution of C++. And no, that smaller and cleaner language is not Java or C#. The quote occurs in a section entitled “Beyond Files and Syntax”. I was pointing out that the C++ semantics is much cleaner than its syntax. I was thinking of programming styles, libraries and programming environments that emphasized the cleaner and more effective practices over archaic uses focused on the low-level aspects of C.

“I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone”. I said that after a frustrating attempt to use a “feature-rich” telephone sometime around 1990. I’m sure the sentiment wasn’t original, and probably not even the overall phrasing; someone must have thought of that before me.

“There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses”. Yes. Again, I very much doubt that the sentiment is original. Of course, all “there are only two” quotes have to be taken with a grain of salt.

“Proof by analogy is fraud”. Yes; page 692 of TC++PL. A good analogy is an excellent way of illustrating an idea, but far too often such analogies are not accompanied by solid reasoning, data, etc.

“People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we don’t”. Yes.

“C++ Is my favorite garbage collected language because it generates so little garbage”. Yes; see Why doesn’t C++ have garbage collection? and How do I deal with memory leaks.

“If you think it’s simple, then you have misunderstood the problem”. Yes, but no, I don’t recall which question elicited that answer.

“There are more useful systems developed in languages deemed awful than in languages praised for being beautiful–many more”. Yes, in MIT Technology Review interview and elsewhere. There, I also said:

“I think we should look for elegance in the applications built, rather than in the languages themselves”. I should have said “more than” rather than “rather than”. “To use C++ well, you have to understand design and programming technique”. “C++ is designed to allow you to express ideas, but if you don’t have ideas or don’t have any clue about how to express them, C++ doesn’t offer much help”. “The <random> library is what a random library wants to be when it grows up. As a result, beginners use rand()”. Yes. In the CppCon 2017 opening keynote: The Learning and Teaching Modern C++.

“The fact that ‘goto’ can do anything is exactly why we don’t use it”. Yes. In the CppCon 2017 opening keynote: The Learning and Teaching Modern C++. I did/do point out that ‘goto’ is excellent in machine generated code.

“If the comment and code disagree, both are probably wrong”. Yes, quoting Norm Schryer, I think. In the CppCon 2017 opening keynote: The Learning and Teaching Modern C++.

“Teach for the future; you have to live in it”. Yes. In the CppCon 2017 opening keynote: The Learning and Teaching Modern C++. Also, in other contexts: Build for the future; you have to live in it. An organization that treats its programmers as morons will soon have programmers that are willing and able to act like morons only. Yes. TC++PL3.

“Don’t be clever”. Yes. In the CppCon 2017 opening keynote: The Learning and Teaching Modern C++. The accompagnying slide says “Don’t be (too) clever” but I can’t promounce parentheses :-). My point was to discourage overly clever code because “clever code” is hard to write, easy to get wrong, harder to maintain, and often no faster than simpler alternatives because it can be hard to optimize.

Always be suspicious of ‘of course’: ‘of course’ is not a reason. Yes, of course.

Beware of ‘obvious’; it often means “I haven’t thought carefully about it”. Yes.

“Far too often, ‘computer science’ is a form of math envy”. Yes, but please don’t forget that “Far too often.” The quote comes from a context where I’m worrying about insufficient attention to data (empiricism) and insufficient attention to the connection to computing. It is not a frontal assault on the notion that computer science can be science (e.g., see Knuth on algorithms and the analysis of algorithms; that’s science and it is not any other science). And, no, I’m not going to give concrete examples or names.

“Far too often, ‘software engineering’ is neither engineering nor about software”. Yes, but please don’t forget that “Far too often.” The quote comes from a context where I’m worrying about insufficient attention to data (empiricism) and insufficient attention to the connection to code. I’m worried that the realities of having to deliver useful and maintainable code can be drowned in processes, corporate standards, and marketing studies; that software development sometimes is controlled by people who couldn’t recognize good code if it jumped up and punched them on the nose, and are proud of that. And, no, I’m not going to give concrete examples or names. When practiced well, software development is a worthy engineering discipline, delivering results that compares well with those of older engineering disciplines.

“When (not if) automatic garbage collection becomes part of C++, it will be optional”. Yes in a a 2000 interview with /.. Since C++11, C++ as a garbage collection interface, but it is not used much. Most people who want resource safety (no leaks) and memory safety (no memoty corruption) use smart pointers and RAII. See A brief introduction to C++’s model for type- and resource-safety and The C++ Core Guidelines for an approach to reach complete type-safety and resource-safety without a garbage collector.

“It’s easy to win forgiveness for being wrong; being right is what gets you into real trouble”. Yes.

“Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of indirection”, known as the 1st law of computing. The full quote is “Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of indirection, except of course for the problem of too many indirections”. Yes, I said that quoting (my PhD Thesis advisor) David J. Wheeler. Please don’t misattribute it to me.

“I have yet to see a program that can be written better in C than in C++”. Yes, many times, including my electronic design interview. I don’t believe such a program could exist. By ``better’’ I mean smaller, more efficient, or more maintainable. If nothing else, you can write the program in C style benefiting from C++’s stronger type checking and better notational support, but most programs can benefit from C++’s support for generic and object-oriented programming without compromising size or performance. Sticking to the C-like subset of C++ is most often counter-productive.

“Test early and often”. Yes, often, including Chapter 22 of Programming: Principles and Practice using C++.

“Space is time”. Yes, referring to the fact that compact data is faster to traverse than scattered data (e.g., a traversing a vector can be dramatically faster than traversing a linked list) and faster to input and output.

“The only thing that grows faster than computer performance is human expectation”. Yes, often since the late 1980s. It was my standard answer to suggestions that we really didn’t need to work on making software efficient any more because hardware is getting faster. Of course, today, single core performance hasn’t improved for years.

“Friendship is neither inherited nor transitive”. Yes. It’s a C++ language rule from the earliest days.

“Only half of the C++ community is above average”. Yes, in a WG21 evening session discussing future directions. The point was to remind the C++ standards committee members that they should design for the C++ community at large, rather than just for experts like themselves.

“Nobody should call themselves a professional if they only know one language”. Meaning professional as a software developer or direct manager of software developers. Yes. Many times.

“The most important single aspect of software development is to be clear about what you are trying to build”. Yes, in TC++PL2 and TC++PL3.

“Our civilization runs on software”. Yes, stating the obvious. It’s a plea for more reliable and maintainable code. If our computerized systems fail badly, many will starve.

“To many managers, getting rid of the arrogant, undisciplined, over-paid, technology-obsessed, improperly-dressed etc. programmers would appear to be a significant added benefit”. Yes, in TC++PL2 and TC++PL3.

“To optimize old code, first get rid of the fancy stuff”. Yes, the point being that new C++ features and better optimizers often make cleaner modern code run faster than elaborately hand-optimized code.

“When was the last time you checked the return value of printf?” Yes, the point being that rare errors are often not caught, leading to surprising crashes. This is an argument for using exceptions: they cannot be ignored.

“The problem with many professors is that their previous occupation was student”. Yes. You need experience beyond book learning to teach well. Conversely, you need some education (“book learning”) to avoid re-inventing the wheel and rediscovering old mistakes the hard way.

“Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost”. TC++PL3.

“If you give people the choice of writing good code or fast code, there’s something wrong. Good code should be fast”. CppCon 2018 keynote.

“I hate to choose between elegance and efficiency”. Often.

“Someone who claims to have a perfect programming language is either a salesman or a fool, or both”. Often.

“If you never fail, your aren’t trying hard enough”. Yes.

“Absolute certainty is a terribly thing”. Yes. In the context of programming, not Mathematics.

“Every new powerful feature will be overused and misused”. Yes. It’s an observation – a statement of fact. After a while and some experimentation, good programmers find what works in real-world development and what’s just overenthusiasm.

“Cut until there is nothing left to cut and all there is left is principled and fundamental”. Yes. In How can you be so certain?.

“We are defining a language for decades of use. A bit of humility is necessary”. Yes. In How can you be so certain? and Thriving in a Crowded and Changing World: C++ 2006-2020.

“My best tool for efficiency and performance is abstraction”. Yes. In my interview with Lex Fridman.

Nothing significant is uncontroversial. Yes, but of course just being controversial doesn’t make something significant, or right.

“All successful languages are grown and not merely designed from first principles”. Yes. When it looks as if it is not, there is a previous incarnation of the idea and as its use grows, the language evolves to meet needs.

“It seems that often I’m the only one around who doesn’t have a firm opinion about what C++ is”. Yes. In the context context of oversimplification vs. careful consideration.

“Without philosophy, language design becomes hacking”. Yes. Various talks.

“My ideal of program design is to represent the concepts of the application domain directly in code. That way, if you understand the application domain, you understand the code and vice versa”. Yes. Various talks.

“Java is to JavaScript as ham is to hamster”. No. Never. Nothing even close to that. I try hard not to be rude about other languages.

“‘Legacy code’ often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling”. In my FAQ.

“I see C++’s success as a function of its original design aims - efficient use of hardware, plus powerful abstraction mechanisms - and its careful evolution based on feedback from real-world use”. Yes.

“The hardest part is to decide what’s important and maintain a coherency. Once you know what you want, eventually, you find a good technical way of doing it”. Yes.

“C++11 feels like a new language”. Often.

“Unfortunately, people don’t just want simplicity, they what something impossible: a simpler language, with more features, and no breakage of their existing code”. Many times including C++ programming language: How it became the invisible foundation for everything, and what’s next.

“‘Make simple things simple to do’ - for example, though generalization or direct support for common use cases - while also maintaining both compatibility and stability” and also “Make simple things simple and ensure that nothing essential is impossible or unreasonably expensive” in Thriving in a Crowded and Changing World: C++ 2006-2020 or simply “Make simple things simple!”

“Remember the Vasa!”. Often, including in Remember the Vasa!.

“You start small, articulate fundamental principles, articulate long-term ideals, and develop based on feedback from real-world use”. Yes.

“Stability is an important feature for a language used for systems that have to work for decades”. Yes.

“Evolution is necessary to meet the challenges of a changing world and to incorporate new ideas”. Yes.

“C++ is an invisible foundation of everything”. Yes. Including in a short talk at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science.

“It is crucial that C++ remains coherent and is a stable platform for development”. Yes. Many times. Also “Stability is a feature” in Thriving in a Crowded and Changing World: C++ 2006-2020.

“If you keep your good ideas to yourself, they are useless; you could just as well have been doing crossword puzzles. Only by articulating your ideas and making them accessible through writing and talks do they become a contribution”. Yes. Many times, including C++ programming language: How it became the invisible foundation for everything, and what’s next.

“C++ is a general purpose programming language designed to make programming more enjoyable for the serious programmer”. That’s the opening statement of the first edition of “The C++ Programming Language” from 1985. The editors didn’t like that because they didn’t consider it sufficiently serious, ambitious, and technical. By “serious” I meant “people who write code for others to rely on.”

“I like my code to be elegant and efficient. The logic should be straightforward to make it hard for bugs to hide, the dependencies minimal to ease maintenance, error handling complete according to an articulated strategy, and performance close to optimal so as not to tempt people to make the code messy with unprincipled optimizations. Clean code does one thing well”. Yes. In a book called “Clean Code.”

“I see C++’s success as a function of its original design aims â€“ efficient use of hardware, plus powerful abstraction mechanisms â€“ and its careful evolution based on feedback from real-world use.”. From my TechRepublic interview.

“Code should elegant and efficient; I hate to have to choose between those”. Yes, often.

“There are obscure and clever ways to violate that rule; don’t do that”. Yes, specifically about abuses of referencs, but someone pointed out that this is a general rule. “Clever code” is often a major problem; express ideas as simply and straightforwardy as possible.

“Language design is a curious mixture of grand ideas and fiddly details”. Yes.

“New languages always have on average better programmers. This has nothing to do with the language, but a lot to do with the small community. Once you get a large community, the average skill of the developer goes towards the average skill in the industry.” Yes. Obviously. But older languages often still have more better programmers, simply because they have more programmers.

“Learning of a foreign language and culture is important. It helps you think and be a better person. With programming languages it helps you become a better programmer”. Yes, somewhere in my interview with Lex Fridman.

“Language design is a curious mixture of grand ideas and fiddly details”. Yes.

“You must run before you can walk”. Yes, in PPP.

“The first solution that’s good enough is rarely the best solution”. Yes, often.

“Familiarity is often mistaken for simplicity”. Yes, in 21st Century C++ and many times in many variations before that.

“Please remember not to optimize without measurement showing a need to”. Yes, in many variations.

“The most fundamental problem in software development is complexity. There is only one basic way of dealing with complexity: divide and conquer”. Yes, in “Programming: Principles and Practice using C++”.

Many people confuse what is simple with what is familiar. Yes, and that’s a significant barrier to progress.

“Guido van Rossum wanted a language that was usable by everybody and I wanted a language that was good for engineers. I don’t want everybody to program the brakes in my car”. Yes, and IMO, we both succeeded.

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, want to become management”. This doesn’t mean that all manages who used to be developers are bad. I have known and still know many excellent managers. My point is that there are developers who don’t like being developers and see management as a way out.

Genghis Khan

Source: https://graciousquotes.com/genghis-khan/

“Not even a mighty warrior can break a frail arrow when it is multiplied and supported by its fellows. As long as you brothers support one another and render assistance to one another, your enemies can never gain the victory over you. But if you fall away from each other your enemy can brake you like frail arrows, one at a time.”

The strength of a wall is neither greater nor less than the courage of the men who defend it.

I am the punishment of God… If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.

“Heaven grew weary of the excessive pride and luxury of China… I am from the Barbaric North. I wear the same clothing and eat the same food as the cowherds and horse-herders. We make the same sacrifices and we share… our riches. I look upon the nation as a new-born child and I care for my soldiers as though they were my brothers.”

Remember, you have no companions but your shadow.

Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.

“I hate luxury. I exercise moderation… It will be easy to forget your vision and purpose one you have fine clothes, fast horses and beautiful women. [In which case], you will be no better than a slave, and you will surely lose everything.”

There is no good in anything until it is finished.

The merit in action lies in finishing it to the end.

“If unable to abstain from drinking, a man may get drunk three times a month; if he does it more than three times he is culpable; if he gets drunk twice a month it is better; if once a month, this is still more laudable; and if one does not drink at all what can be better? But where can I find such a man? If such a man were found he would be worthy of the highest esteem.”

To get drunken twice a month is better; once, still more praiseworthy. But not to drink at all – what could be better than this?

When it was wet, we bore the wet together, when it was cold, we bore the cold together.

“The Greatest Happiness is to scatter your enemy and drive him before you. To see his cities reduced to ashes. To see those who love him shrouded and in tears. And to gather to your bosom his wives and daughters.”

All who surrender will be spared; whoever does not surrender but opposes with struggle and dissension, shall be annihilated.

Be of one mind and one faith, that you may conquer your enemies and lead long and happy lives.

It is not sufficient that I succeed – all others must fail.

The pleasure and joy of man lies in treading down the rebel and conquering the enemy, in tearing him up by the root, in taking from him all that he has.

When my call is high, the obligations of me, too, are heavy, and I fear that my decision may be something they want.

I will rule them by fixed laws so that rest and happiness shall prevail in the world.

“Despite all expectations, the time of my last campaign and of my passing is near. I wish to die at home. Let not my end disarm you, and on no account weep for me, lest the enemy be warned of my death.”

With Heaven’s aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world. That task is left for you.

If my body dies, let my body die, but do not let my country die.

https://collabfund.com/blog/smart-words-from-smart-people/

by Morgan Housel

“People in their 30s know where the world is going because they’re going to do it. I’m in my 80s so I have no idea.” - Daniel Kahneman

“Every group of people who think for a living is going to be sad. Ignorance is bliss. So what’s the opposite?” – Chris Rock

“I would say the most dangerous thing in the world with a 12-year-old is to try to be his friend. But the worst thing with a 40-year-old is to try to be their parent.” - Chris Davis

“Schopenhauer’s ideal is to be wealthy enough to have expansive free time and the intellectual capabilities to fill it with contemplation and activity in the service of mankind.” – Derren Brown

“If you ask yourself why you are in business and can find no answer other than ‘I want to make money,’ you will save money by getting out of business and going to work for someone.” – Harvey Firestone

“When asked what was the best asset a man could have, Albert Lasker — the most astute of all advertising men — replied, ‘Humility in the presence of a good idea.’ It is horribly difficult to recognize a good idea.” – David Ogilvy

“I became so avid a collector of instances of bad judgment that I paid no attention to boundaries between professional territories … why should I search for some tiny, unimportant, hard-to-find new stupidity in my own field when some large, important, easy-to-find stupidity was just over the fence in the other fellow’s professional territory? – Munger

“The more I am around horse racing the more I think that the most underrated thing is the horse and that it is us trainers and jockeys and owners who are overrated.” – Leroy Jolley

“We are built with an almost infinite capacity to believe things because the beliefs are advantageous for us to hold, rather than because they are even remotely related to the truth.” – Dee Hock

“When momentum is on your side, people focus on your strengths and forgive your weaknesses. When the momentum stops, they scrutinize the whole thing.” – Packy McCormick

“Join no creed, but respect all for the truth that is in them.” – Robert Henri

“Apple was Steve Jobs with 10,000 lives.” – David Senra

“I wanna see your best work. I’m not interested in your new work.” – Jerry Seinfeld

Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, said the main motivation of his life was, “To be a good ancestor.”

“A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.” – Kevin Kelly

“The world is split between those who don’t know how to start making money and those who don’t know when to stop.” - Taleb

“It doesn’t take much to convince us that we are smart and healthy, but it takes a lot of facts to convince us of the opposite.” – Dan Gilbert

“Happiness is that feeling you get right before you need more happiness.” – Don Draper

“Notice that, while lots of people are happy to tell you about Golden Ages, nobody ever seems to think one is happening right now. Maybe that’s because the only place a Golden Age can ever happen is in our memory.” – Adam Mastroianni

“I believe pretty strongly that one’s overarching aim in life and work is to always be making one’s self obsolete.” – Tim Hanson

“It is a curious feature of our existence that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it.” – Bill Bryson

“Fast growth is counterintuitively more perilous than declining revenue and can quickly destroy a company.” – Brent Beshore

“If passionate love is a drug—literally a drug—it has to wear off eventually.” – Jonathan Haidt (I think this applies to everything from relationships to businesses. Curiosity is more sustainable than passion).

“Better to get your dopamine from improving your ideas than having them validated.” – Nat Friedman

“People with very high expectations have very low resilience.” – Jensen Huang

It’s good to be optimistic in the general and skeptical in the specific. It’s very dangerous to be pessimistic in the general and optimistic in the specific. – Naval (paraphrasing)

“The greatest trick the devil ever played was making you believe that the pessimists are the good guys.” – Packy McCormick