John Carmack

"Focus is a luxury for people who can afford to give up opportunities."

"The most important thing is the way you fall."

"Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything."

"It is inevitable that we will leave some bugs for the next guy."

"The point of shareholder letters is that I can say what I want."

"We are all on the same team."

"Fast code > elegant code."

"If you're willing to restrict the scope of your problem, you can almost always do it faster."

"Real professional development is about continuous learning."

"Programming is a craft."

"It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

"Doom is still the most fun you can have with a polygon budget."

"I am not a great programmer; I am just a good programmer with great habits."

"Software is a service industry."

"There is no excuse for not doing basic research."

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

"Optimism is an occupational hazard of programming."

"It is much easier to optimize code that works than to write working code that is optimized."

"Discipline equals freedom."

"The goal of game development is to bring joy."

"Technical excellence is not negotiable."

"A lot of the time, the way to win is just to not lose."

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

"You have to be willing to fail."

"I think game developers have it better than movie makers."

"My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn it into my greatest strength."

"I always try to do the best possible job."

"Productivity is being able to do things that you were not able to do before."

"You should always be open to criticism."