Top 40 Bill Joy Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Not all smart people work at Sun Microsystems.”

— Bill Joy

2. “There are always more smart people outside your company than within it.”

— Bill Joy

3. “We have to encourage the future we want rather than trying to prevent the future we fear.”

— Bill Joy

4. “I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil, an evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation-states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment of extreme individuals.”

— Bill Joy

5. “Operating systems are like underwear – nobody really wants to look at them.”

— Bill Joy

6. “I think editors have to come out of a certain kind of community.”

— Bill Joy

7. “We can’t simply do our science and not worry about the ethical issues.”

— Bill Joy

8. “The standard definition of AI is that which we don’t understand.”

— Bill Joy

9. “The best way to do research is to make a radical assumption and then assume it’s true. For me, I use the assumption that object oriented programming is the way to go.”

— Bill Joy

10. “Given the incredible power of these new technologies, shouldn’t we be asking how we can best coexist with them? And if our own extinction is a likely, or even possible, outcome of our technological development, shouldn’t we proceed with great caution?”

— Bill Joy

11. “I got tired of people complaining that it was too hard to use UNIX because the editor was too complicated.”

— Bill Joy

12. “I think one of the interesting things is that vi is really a mode-based editor.”

— Bill Joy

13. “Bitmap display is media compatible with dot matrix or laser printers.”

— Bill Joy

14. “It is formatted, and I’m tired of using vi. I get really bored.”

— Bill Joy

15. “Document preparation systems will also require large screen displays.”

— Bill Joy

16. “Well, limbo is not a good place to be.”

— Bill Joy

17. “You can’t solve a problem with the management of technology with more technology.”

— Bill Joy

18. “A bomb is blown up only once – but one bot can become many, and quickly get out of control.”

— Bill Joy

19. “You can drive a car by looking in the rear view mirror as long as nothing is ahead of you. Not enough software professionals are engaged in forward thinking.”

— Bill Joy

20. “Most of the bright people don’t work for you – no matter who you are.”

— Bill Joy

21. “I was surprised about vi going in, though, I didn’t know it was in System V.”

— Bill Joy

22. “I wish we hadn’t used all the keys on the keyboard.”

— Bill Joy

23. “And once an intelligent robot exists, it is only a small step to a robot species – to an intelligent robot that can make evolved copies of itself.”

— Bill Joy

24. “Just about every computer on the market today runs Unix, except the Mac and nobody cares about it.”

— Bill Joy

25. “The reason I use ed is that I don’t want to lose what’s on the screen.”

— Bill Joy

26. “Sometimes the easiest way to get something done is to be a little naive about it.”

— Bill Joy

27. “That lack of programmability is probably what ultimately will doom vi. It can’t extend its domain.”

— Bill Joy

28. “But no, I don’t generally have trouble with spelling mistakes.”

— Bill Joy

29. “Take responsibility for the things you build and invent.”

— Bill Joy

30. “Interleaf is very nice. I expect there to be a lot of competition for programs like that.”

— Bill Joy

31. “The next step after cheap is free, and after free is disposable.”

— Bill Joy

32. “Although humankind inherently “desires to know”, if open access to, and unlimited development of, knowledge henceforth puts us all in clear danger of extinction, then common sense demands that we re-examine our reverence for knowledge.”

— Bill Joy

33. “I had almost rewritten all of the display code for windows, and that was when I gave up.”

— Bill Joy

34. “I started to write a new editor not too long ago and had it about half done after two days.”

— Bill Joy

35. “Systems are going to get a lot more sophisticated.”

— Bill Joy

36. “I think Unix is a great system – especially for running data centers – because it is very mature, very reliable, very scalable. But when I want to go out and populate small devices, I think Java.”

— Bill Joy

37. “What’s your personal computer, anyways? Your personal computer should be something that’s always on your person.”

— Bill Joy

38. “Interleaf is based on the formatting process.”

— Bill Joy

39. “I think multiple levels of undo would be wonderful, too.”

— Bill Joy

40. “The point is that you want to have a system that is responsive.”

— Bill Joy

41. “I think the Macintosh proves that everyone can have a bitmapped display.”

— Bill Joy

42. “Today scientists, technologists, businessmen, engineers don’t have any personal responsibility for the consequences of their actions.”

— Bill Joy