Bjarne Stroustrup

"The C++ programming language is a general-purpose programming language with a bias towards systems programming that is a better C, supports data abstraction, object-oriented programming, and generic programming."

"Programming is understanding."

"I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

"The most important principle for the good programmer is to refuse to write code that is difficult to understand."

"Don't call it a language, unless it can express a thought you could not express without it."

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

"A program that has not been tested does not work."

"Using a library is not the same as using a tool; a library is code and code can have bugs."

"The most effective way to deal with an indisputable fact is to be sure that it is indeed a fact."

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny."

"It seems that every few hundred years or so, our concept of the perfect human body changes."

"The key to reliable software is simplicity and clarity."

"I am an optimist about the long term and a pessimist about the short term."

"If you think it is simple, then you have misunderstood the problem."

"C++ is a language for library developers and for people who like to optimize."

"The most reliable computer systems are those designed with an understanding of human limitations."

"Trying to teach programming by starting with syntax is like trying to teach poetry by starting with grammar."

"The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it."

"Complexity has to go somewhere; if not in the code, then in the data."

"Software is more important than hardware."

"An organisation that treats its programmers as morons will soon have programmers that are willing and able to act like morons only."

"The reason we build software is because we want to prevent bugs."

"It is not enough to just have a good idea. You have to be able to execute on it."

"Bugs are not a form of evolution."

"When you don't use the standard, people won't know what to expect."

"I find it useful to study the history of programming languages."

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

"Perfection is not just about control. It is also about letting go."

"Good code is its own best documentation."

"Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost."