Mel > Mel 's Quotes

“The greatest of all weaknesses is the fear of appearing weak.”
― Andrew Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
― Andrew Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

“Names are deeply meaningful to your brain, and misleading names add chaos to your code.”
― Andrew Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

“Every day, work to refine the skills you have and to add new tools to your repertoire.”
― Andrew Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmer

“If you’re not uncomfortable, then you’re probably stuck at an “acceptable level.”
― Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

“Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that’s exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands….”
― Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

“here’s the core argument of Rule #2: You shouldn’t just envy the craftsman mindset, you should emulate it. In other words, I am suggesting that you put aside the question of whether your job is your true passion, and instead turn your focus toward becoming so good they can’t ignore you. That is, regardless of what you do for a living, approach your work like a true performer. This”
― Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

“If you go after more control in your working life without a rare and valuable skill to offer in return, you’re likely pursuing a mirage.”
― Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

“Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that’s exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands…. Deliberate practice is above all an effort of focus and concentration. That is what makes it “deliberate,” as distinct from the mindless playing of scales or hitting of tennis balls that most people engage in.”
― Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality.”
― Alan W. Watts, The Way of Zen

“Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It's absolutely true that, "Wherever you go, there you are.”
― Richard Carlson, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... and It's All Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things From Taking Over Your Life

“(...) your thoughts can be the enemy, or you can make them your ally.”
― Anne Bogel, Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life

“a difference is a difference only if it makes a difference.”
― Darrell Huff, How to Lie with Statistics

“powerful aspect of abstraction is that many different situations become the same when you forget some details.”
― Eugenia Cheng, The Art of Logic in an Illogical World

“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work...”
― Albert Einstein

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
― Albert Einstein

“Angry gets shit done.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods: Tenth Anniversary

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
― Thomas A. Edison

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

“You need to spend evenings, weekends, and holidays educating yourself, therefore you cannot spend your evenings, weekends, and holidays working overtime on your current project.”
― Kevlin Henney, 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

“Good programming is not born from mere technical competence. I've seen highly intellectual programmers who can produce intense and impressive algorithms, who know their language standard by heart, but who write the most awful code.”
― Kevlin Henney, 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

“Ask yourself, how much of your time do you spend developing someone else’s product? How much developing yourself?”
― Kevlin Henney, 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

“A non-programmer friend once remarked that code looks like poetry. I get that feeling from really good code, that everything in the text has a purpose and that it's there to help me understand the idea. Unfortunately, writing code doesn't have the same romantic image aswriting poetry.”
― Kevlin Henney, 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

“If I stress about a goal, I won't remember to find the way to get there.”
― Zoltan Andrejkovics, The Invisible Game: The Mindset of a Winning Team

“In his book Getting Things Done, David Allen shares a crucial insight: “You can’t do a project. You can only do the next step.”
― Michael Bungay Stanier, Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters.

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. ANNA QUINDLEN”
― Michael Bungay Stanier, Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters.

“But the very nature of doing more Great Work means there will be times when you stumble, times you lose the path, times when you’re hacking through the jungle. You’ll ask yourself if this was the right path in the first place. As various military leaders have pointed out over the years, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.”
― Michael Bungay Stanier, Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters.

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
MARK TWAIN”
― Michael Bungay Stanier, Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters.

“Difference can be a gift. Being ace can mean less interpersonal drama and more freedom from social norms around relationships. It is an opportunity to focus more on other passions, to be less distracted by sexuality, to break the scripts, to choose your own adventure and your own values.”
― Angela Chen, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex