92 Quotes by Edsger W. Dijkstra

The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world’s richest source of rewarding challenges.

I mean, if 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself “Dijkstra would not have liked this”, well, that would be enough immortality for me.

The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.

A convincing demonstration of correctness being impossible as long as the mechanism is regarded as a black box, our only hope lies in not regarding the mechanism as a black box.

If there is one ‘scientific’ discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in mind.

Mathematicians are like managers – they want improvement without change.

Thank goodness we don’t have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.

Many mathematicians derive part of their self-esteem by feeling themselves the proud heirs of a long tradition of rational thinking; I am afraid they idealize their cultural ancestors.

Perfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning.