"What I was proud of was that I used very few parts to build a computer that could actually speak words on a screen and type words on a keyboard and run a programming language that could play games. And I did all this myself"
About this Quote
The "few parts" line carries a whole philosophy of early personal computing. In an era when computers were room-sized institutions, parsimony was rebellion. Fewer chips meant lower cost, less failure, more elegance. It's also a subtle jab at corporate bloat: big systems needed teams, budgets, and bureaucracy; his needed obsession and craft. The subtext is a DIY morality tale, an origin myth for Silicon Valley's favorite character type - the lone builder whose technical taste doubles as virtue.
Then comes the clincher: "And I did all this myself". It's raw, almost adolescent, and that's why it lands. Wozniak isn't performing managerial genius; he's defending the dignity of hands-on work in a world that often rewards the pitch more than the solder. Context matters: Apple coalesced around his design genius and Jobs' narrative talent, and Wozniak's insistence on solitary construction reads as both pride and reclamation. It's a reminder that the personal computer was born not just from ambition, but from the intimate thrill of making a machine talk back.
Quote Details
| Topic | Coding & Programming |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Wozniak, Steve. (2026, January 16). What I was proud of was that I used very few parts to build a computer that could actually speak words on a screen and type words on a keyboard and run a programming language that could play games. And I did all this myself. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/what-i-was-proud-of-was-that-i-used-very-few-95509/
Chicago Style
Wozniak, Steve. "What I was proud of was that I used very few parts to build a computer that could actually speak words on a screen and type words on a keyboard and run a programming language that could play games. And I did all this myself." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/what-i-was-proud-of-was-that-i-used-very-few-95509/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"What I was proud of was that I used very few parts to build a computer that could actually speak words on a screen and type words on a keyboard and run a programming language that could play games. And I did all this myself." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/what-i-was-proud-of-was-that-i-used-very-few-95509/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.




