Guido van Rossum

"Money should never be the primary motivation for open source work; passion and purpose matter more."

"The literature of code - its documentation and style guides - is just as important as the code itself."

"True friendship in the tech community forms when people collaborate genuinely toward shared goals."

"I believe that every programmer has the potential to create something meaningful and lasting."

"The politics of programming language design often matter as much as the technical aspects."

"I've learned that inspiration often comes when you stop searching and just allow yourself to think deeply."

"War between different programming communities wastes energy that could be spent solving real problems."

"The wisdom to know when to simplify and when to add features is critical for any language designer."

"I believe that family - whether biological or chosen in communities - provides essential support."

"The gratitude I feel for Python's success is matched only by my responsibility to steward it well."

"Death of a bad idea is not something to mourn - it makes room for better ideas."

"I've found that the most lasting success comes from focusing on long-term values, not short-term gains."

"Python should be fun to write. If it's not, you're doing it wrong."

"Don't try to be clever. The code you write today will be maintained by someone tomorrow."

"Life is too short to write bad code."

"The only way to learn programming is by doing it."

"Readability counts. Make your code speak for itself."

"I wanted to create a language that was as readable as English."

"Beautiful is better than ugly. This applies to code and to life."

"Explicit is better than implicit. Say what you mean."

"Simple is better than complex. Complexity is the enemy of understanding."

"Practicality beats purity. Don't be a perfectionist."

"Errors should never pass silently. Speak up about problems."

"In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess."

"There should be one way to do it. Focus on clarity."

"Now is better than never. Take action today."

"Although never is often better than right now. Know when to wait."

"If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea."

"If the implementation is easy to explain, you may have a good idea."

"Namespaces are one honking great idea. Let's do more of those."