Obviously I was either onto something, or on something.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The author playfully admits uncertainty about whether he discovered something new or simply stumbled onto an existing idea.
- In plain terms
- He isn't sure if he was original or just following something.
- What can you take from it?
- Self‑doubt can accompany creative moments.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you validate whether an insight is original?
Another view
Ambiguity can hinder confidence in one's contributions.
More from Larry Wall
It's the Magic that counts.
Permalink to quote #307 (Presuming for the sake of argument that it's even *possible* to design better code in Perl than in C. :-)
Permalink to quote #305 May you do Good Magic with Perl.
Permalink to quote #308
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