Grace Hopper

"If you ask people what they are thinking, and they don't know, that's interesting."

"I had a very happy childhood, which is good preparation for any future."

"We tried to be conservative in what we did, but aggressive in how we did it."

"One useful thing about having made mistakes is that you know how to recognize them when you see them again."

"Programming is fun because it appeals to a very basic human need, to make something that works."

"The difference between a businessman and a proprietor is that a businessman will go into a merger, a proprietor will go into a fight."

"I visualized the future of computers long before they were built."

"What I want to do is to help people understand that if you're not free to make mistakes, you're not free."

"I decided that I would be a scientist, not a housewife."

"I think the reason we have always gone sideways is because we have this legacy from the beginning of computing."

"Let me come to you with a smile."

"Probably the biggest thing that happened was the acceptance of the idea that computers would be used commercially."

"I felt that the degree was important because I wanted to be able to teach."

"Standardization, for all its benefits, in many respects a handicap."

"I have never heard of a machine doing the job better than a person."

"Humans are wasteful. The computer is thrifty."

"I was fortunate to be born in an age when computers were being created."

"The UNIVAC was really as big as a whole room."

"I always say the sea is like a person - if you respect it, it won't bother you."

"I have been very fortunate in my life."

"I did my job as best I could."

"We have to leave that to the next generation."

"I realized we could do arithmetic."

"I am now about as famous as I am ever likely to be."

"I knew that if I could get people to think about it, we could do it."

"I never met anyone who wasn't a coward."

"I was the first programmer of the ENIAC."

"It is really quite fashionable to have failed."

"The World Trade Center is gone now. It'll grow back."

"I still believe the computer does what you tell it to do."