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One moral of the above story is, of course, that we must be very careful when we give advice to younger people; sometimes they follow it!

— Edsger W. Dijkstra Dijkstra (1972)

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Advice

More quotes by Edsger W. Dijkstra

A picture may be worth a thousand words, a formula is worth a thousand pictures.

The teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery.

Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!

Dijkstra (1970)

The problems of the real world are primarily those you are left with when you refuse to apply their effective solutions.

Dijkstra (1988)

It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs.

Dijkstra (2000)

All Edsger W. Dijkstra quotes →

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A man must serve his time to every trade
Save censure — critics are ready-made.

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The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Parodies and caricatures are the most penetrating of criticisms.

Aldous Huxley Point Counter Point (1928)

Let no man value at a little price
A virtuous woman's counsel; her wing'd spirit
Is feather'd oftentimes with heavenly words.

George Chapman The Gentleman Usher (1606)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Edsger W. Dijkstra (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.