Jamie Zawinski Quotes

• Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use regular expressions.' Now they have two problems. [1][2]
• You can't take a dying project, sprinkle it with the magic pixie dust of 'open source,' and have everything magically work out. [3]
• Using these toolkits is like trying to make a bookshelf out of mashed potatoes. [4]
• I'd just like to take this moment to point out that C has all the expressive power of two dixie cups and a string. ([5] commands.c:501)
• Linux is only free if your time has no value. [6] - in an interview in June 1998; he later claimed that 'Bits and pieces of this article have been quoted out of context in lots of places'
• Today, I use Linux as my primary OS (on an x86 PC, and on a Thinkpad), and I also use Irix (on an SGI O2.) Linux has improved a great deal since I wrote this, specifically with respect to its ease of installation. [7] in a comment on his site in 2000
• Your 'use case' should be, there's a 22 year old college student living in the dorms. How will this software get him laid?[8]
• My one purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others. [9]
• If you're using Windows, go fuck yourself. [10]
• I've noticed that when I get quoted in .sig files, it's never any of the actual *clever* things I say all the time. Usually it's something dumb. [11]
• Don't do drugs, kids. Stay in school. [12]
• Browser compatibility problems are nature's way of saying 'stop trying to be so fuckin' clever'. [13]
• C (it's not just a language, it's a grade) [14]
• Professionalism has no place in art, and hacking is art. Software Engineering might be science; but that's not what I do. I'm a hacker, not an engineer. [15]

jamie zawinski