“Basic would never have surfaced because there was always a language better than Basic for that purpose.”

Java and C++ make you think that the new ideas are like the old ones.

It’s all about long-term, sustaining relationships.

The real romance is out ahead and yet to come. The computer revolution hasn’t started yet.

Bad criticism drives good criticism out of circulation. You just can’t criticize anything.

But Basic happened to be on a GE timesharing system that was done by Dartmouth, and when GE decided to franchise that, it started spreading Basic around just because it was there, not because it had any intrinsic merits whatsoever.

If you’re utopian, you’re never satisfied.

And when they decided to beef up their OSs, they went to (different) very old bad mainframe models of OS design to try to adapt to personal computers.

A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Point of view is worth 80 IQ points

Knowledge is silver. Outlook is gold. IQ is a lead weight.

School is basically about one point of view — the one the teacher has or the textbooks have.

I made up the term “object-oriented,” and I can tell you I did not have C++ in mind.

The hard nerds are the ones who used to have the slide rules at their belt; now they have calculators.

As far as Apple goes, it was a different company every few years from the time I joined in 1984.

That language was Joss, which predated Basic and was beautiful.

And I realized that informed criticism has completely been done in by the web.

Bad User on Device is a medium that can dynamically simulate the details of any other medium, including media that cannot exist physically.

Ultimately, health care fails the most basic test. It’s not organized around the needs of the patient.

A basic law: the more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.

Do not doubt your own basic goodness. In spite of all confusion and fear, you are born with a heart that knows what is just, loving, and beautiful.

I don’t panic. The same thing applies to me as to everybody else, so I’m given to euphoria and despair. And I would say that I basically have survived by recognizing my mistakes.

If you get into the mental habit of relating what you’re reading to the basic structure of the underlying ideas being demonstrated, you gradually accumulate some wisdom.

Move only when you have an advantage. It’s very basic. You have to understand the odds and have the discipline to bet only when the odds are in your favor.

Gifts are meant to be wrapped. Honestly, it’s basic etiquette.

I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong…I basically have survived by recognizing my mistakes.