Computer Quotes: Tech Wisdom & Coding Inspiration

"There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants"

Arnold Newman, Photographer

"I think it would be cool if you were writing a ransom note on your computer, if the paper clip popped up and said, 'Looks like you're writing a ransom note. Need help? You should use more forceful language, you'll get more money.'"

Demetri Martin, Comedian

"I'm the computer operator for Operation Rescue National"

Norma McCorvey, Celebrity

"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG"

Bill Gates, Businessman

"Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all"

John F. Kennedy, President

"I am severely distracted these days. It's hard to sit in front of the computer, uploading bad music for hours, when you have a wonderful boyfriend who treats you like a Goddess"

April Winchell, Actress

"Unauthorized access to computer systems is already a serious crime in a few states and is currently being addressed in many more state legislatures as well as Congress"

Ken Thompson, Scientist

"A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human"

Alan Turing, Mathematician

"Honestly, I'm more into the computer, the Internet, and checking out scores or the news"

Martina Hingis, Athlete

"The ownership of computers in the home is far less than the statistics show, because usually when the computer breaks down once, that is the end of it for a long, long time. They do not have the money or incentive to get the computer repaired"

Major Owens, Politician

"I wouldn't know how to find eBay on the computer if my life depended on it"

Marc Jacobs, Designer

"I said, 'Okay, it's the year 2000, I'm getting a computer and a Palm Pilot.' I know how to check my e-mail, and I've listed some phone numbers on it. Half the time the battery has gone out so I can't use it"

Marc Jacobs, Designer

"I see the player piano as the grandfather of the computer, the ancestor of the entire nightmare we live in, the birth of the binary world where there is no option other than yes or no and where there is no refuge"

William Gaddis, Novelist

"The only thing God didn't do to Job was give him a computer"

I. F. Stone, Journalist

"Now the whole point about machines is they are designed not to be random. When you call up a word processing program on your computer, you don't want it to be different every time you call it up. You want it to stay the same"

Rupert Sheldrake, Scientist

"Since when has the world of computer software design been about what people want? This is a simple question of evolution. The day is quickly coming when every knee will bow down to a silicon fist, and you will all beg your binary gods for mercy"

Bill Gates, Businessman

"To err is human but to really foul up requires a computer"

Dan Rather, Journalist

"The computer is a moron"

Peter Drucker, Businessman

"The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people - as remarkable as the telephone"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men"

Isaac Asimov, Scientist

"You'll see more and more perfection of that - computer as servant. But the next thing is going to be computer as a guide or agent"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"This revolution, the information revoultion, is a revolution of free energy as well, but of another kind: free intellectual energy. It's very crude today, yet our Macintosh computer takes less power than a 100-watt bulb to run it and it can save you hours a day. What will it be able to do ten or 20 years from now, or 50 years from now?"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest"

Isaac Asimov, Scientist

"It took us three years to build the NeXT computer. If we'd given customers what they said they wanted, we'd have built a computer they'd have been happy with a year after we spoke to them - not something they'd want now"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"I met Woz when I was 13, at a friend's garage. He was about 18. He was, like, the first person I met who knew more electronics than I did at that point. We became good friends, because we shared an interest in computer and we had a sense of humor. We pulled all kinds of pranks together"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"Technological man can't believe in anything that can't be measured, taped, or put into a computer"

Clare Boothe Luce, Dramatist

"Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading manuals without the software"

Arthur C. Clarke, Writer

"If you grew up, and you never had a computer, and you've never used the Internet, and someone asked you if you wanted to buy a data plan, your response would be 'What's a data plan, and why would I want to use this?'"

Mark Zuckerberg, Businessman

"I got my first computer in the 6th grade or so. As soon as I got it, I was interested in finding out how it worked and how the programs worked and then figuring out how to write programs at just deeper and deeper levels within the system"

Mark Zuckerberg, Businessman

"Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch"

Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor

"On the molecular scale, you find it's reasonable to have a machine that does a million steps per second, a mechanical system that works at computer speeds"

K. Eric Drexler, Scientist

"Getting out of the hospital is a lot like resigning from a book club. You're not out of it until the computer says you're out of it"

Erma Bombeck, Journalist

"I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on overload and blow up"

Erma Bombeck, Journalist

"I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination"

Maya Lin, Architect

"It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years"

John von Neumann, Mathematician

"I'm terrified of switching the computer on because there are so many poems"

Roger McGough, Poet

"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes"

Edsger Dijkstra, Scientist

"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim"

Edsger Dijkstra, Scientist

"The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows"

Frank Zappa, Musician

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