Quotes

Some words that inspire and help me.

Engineering requires not just the ability to use mathematics, but the ability to understand what, if anything, the mathematics tells us about an actual system.

By: Leslie Lamport

Source: Specifying Systems

If you do it right, one disruption will fuel the next. One revolution will domino into another. People will laugh at you and tell you it’s ludicrous, but that just means they’re starting to pay attention. You’ve found something worth doing. Keep doing it.

By: Tony Fadell

Source: Build

… a lot of people will see a successful company and not just Docker or something anything in the world and they would say I thought of that years ago and it’s like your idea is somewhat valueless like it’s worth zero, exactly zero because an idea that isn’t executed is zero value …

By: Mitchell Hashimoto

Source: alphalist podcast

Most people only have a few significant alternate life paths so close to them. But you, here, you’re capable of anything, because you’re so bad at everything.

By: Waymond

Source: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Every rejection, every disappointment has led you to this moment. Don’t let anything distract you from it.

By: Alpha Waymond

Source: Everything Everywhere All At Once

You think because l’m kind that it means I’m naive, and maybe I am. It’s strategic and necessary. This is how I fight.

By: Waymond

Source: Everything Everywhere All At Once

The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind. Especially when we don’t know what’s going on.

By: Waymond

Source: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Ideas are very important. I think that bringing ideas into the world is one of the most important things that people do and I think that great ideas in the form of great art, stories, inventions, scientific theories - these things take on lives of their own which give meaning to our lives as people.

By: Bret Victor

Source: Inventing On Principle

If “you” try to get involved in the “how” of things, you will just interfere, because you’re a bottleneck on how much “yourself” can do!

By: PJ

Source: The Multiple Self

In the same way, most of us don’t really know how to use our own brains in a systematic way. We give them commands like we were a cat walking across a keyboard: every now and then we end up with something syntactically valid, but semantically… questionable.

By: PJ

Source: The Multiple Self

Don’t be afraid of complexity. I think too many engineers look at stereotypically complex projects such as programming languages, browsers, databases, etc. as magic or as destined for higher-beings. I like to remember that all projects were started by other humans. If they could do it, I can do it too. And so can you.

By: Mitchell Hashimoto

Source: Contributing to Complex Projects

“The magic bullet is mathematics”

By: Leslie Lamport

Source: How to think clearly as a programmer with mathematics and TLA+ - Leslie Lamport @ HLF 2019

“Try to be happy because in this world, everything is temporary. You know. So you should be happy. You know. That’s the way my grandmother taught me. Nothing is permanent, so you should be with what you got.”

By: Thiru Kumar, AKA the Dosa Man

Source: The Legendary Dosa Man of NYC | Street Food Icons

“Especially cooking food, my grandmother told me here to put lot of love into it. If you don’t love what you do, it’s very hard to come up in the business.”

By: Thiru Kumar, AKA the Dosa Man

Source: The Legendary Dosa Man of NYC | Street Food Icons

“The advice that I would give people is that you know a lot less than you think and that’s okay. It’s actually probably really good thing but to make up for that you really have to surround yourself with people who are good at what they do and interested in helping you learn….. Don’t chase names, don’t chase fame - none of that stuff. Success will come if you just focus on sort of building the fundamentals.”

By: Mitchell Hashimoto

Source: Code Story - S4 Bonus: Mitchell Hashimoto, HashiCorp (Replay)

“Negotiation is the heart of collaboration. It is what makes conflict potentially meaningful and productive for all parties. It can change your life, as it has changed mine.”

By: Chris Voss

Source: Never split the difference

If you are desperate, it’s a great asset. If you have too many choices in life, it clouds your thinking. When you have one way to go and that’s forward, it’s very easy.

By: Doug Leone

Source: Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone on Luck & Taking Risks

Let me tell you what we think about children. They’re hardwired for struggle when they get here. And when you hold those perfect little babies in your hand, our job is not to say, “Look at her, she’s perfect. My job is just to keep her perfect – make sure she makes the tennis team by fifth grade and Yale by seventh.” That’s not our job. Our job is to look and say, “You know what? You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” That’s our job. Show me a generation of kids raised like that, and we’ll end the problems, I think, that we see today.

By: Brené Brown

Source: The power of vulnerability

Every minute spent doing something other than what you love most today is a minute you’ll regret when you’re 80.

By: Julian Shapiro

Source: What to work on

If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.