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Top 25 David Gelernter Quotes (2025 Update)

David Gelernter Quote: “Object-oriented programming as it emerged in Simula 67 allows software structure to be based on real-world structures, and gives programmers a powerful way to simplify the design and construction of complex programs.”

1. “Object-oriented programming as it emerged in Simula 67 allows software structure to be based on real-world structures, and gives programmers a powerful way to simplify the design and construction of complex programs.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “The “paperless office” is a bad idea because paper is one of the most useful and valuable media ever invented. “On paper” is a good place for information you want to use; a bad place for information you want to store.”

2. “The “paperless office” is a bad idea because paper is one of the most useful and valuable media ever invented. “On paper” is a good place for information you want to use; a bad place for information you want to store.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Good programmers know what’s beautiful and bad ones don’t.”

3. “Good programmers know what’s beautiful and bad ones don’t.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.”

4. “Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “I think the print media have failed to make the most of their opportunity. They may all disappear because they are approaching things in the wrong way.”

5. “I think the print media have failed to make the most of their opportunity. They may all disappear because they are approaching things in the wrong way.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “There are great science books that were conceived as books. Feynman’s famous introductory lectures in physics, which have a beginning and an end, which are written with style.”

6. “There are great science books that were conceived as books. Feynman’s famous introductory lectures in physics, which have a beginning and an end, which are written with style.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “The future was and remains the quintessential American art form. Other nations sit back and let their futures happen; we construct ours. We can let the future happen, or take the trouble to imagine it. We can imagine it dark or bright-and in the long run, that’s how it will be.”

7. “The future was and remains the quintessential American art form. Other nations sit back and let their futures happen; we construct ours. We can let the future happen, or take the trouble to imagine it. We can imagine it dark or bright-and in the long run, that’s how it will be.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Really good ideas are always good beyond what you anticipated originally.”

8. “Really good ideas are always good beyond what you anticipated originally.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.”

9. “Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “For years, computer scientists were treating operating systems design as sort of an open-reserch issue, when the field’s direction had been decided by commercial operations. Computer science has become completely cut off from reality.”

10. “For years, computer scientists were treating operating systems design as sort of an open-reserch issue, when the field’s direction had been decided by commercial operations. Computer science has become completely cut off from reality.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “The book is a unit and is such a brilliant ergonomic unit.”

11. “The book is a unit and is such a brilliant ergonomic unit.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Computers make people stupid.”

12. “Computers make people stupid.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “In principle the first thing on the stream would be my birth certificate, a little electronic version of that, my parents would put my school records, health records, whatever of their child onto the stream. And the stream continues to flow forward through time.”

13. “In principle the first thing on the stream would be my birth certificate, a little electronic version of that, my parents would put my school records, health records, whatever of their child onto the stream. And the stream continues to flow forward through time.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “We can’t share the earth with pure evil anymore than we can share the earth with smallpox.”

14. “We can’t share the earth with pure evil anymore than we can share the earth with smallpox.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “A logical argument and a story are two ways of putting fragments in proper relationship and guessing where the whole sequence leads and how it gets there. This is the logic-versus-narrative axis. Spectrum Law: The mind is in business to make sense. Up-spectrum, it makes sense by making logic. Down-spectrum, it makes sense by creating stories.”

15. “A logical argument and a story are two ways of putting fragments in proper relationship and guessing where the whole sequence leads and how it gets there. This is the logic-versus-narrative axis. Spectrum Law: The mind is in business to make sense. Up-spectrum, it makes sense by making logic. Down-spectrum, it makes sense by creating stories.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “The book is a form in which some of the greatest masterpieces that mankind has ever achieved are expressed;.”

16. “The book is a form in which some of the greatest masterpieces that mankind has ever achieved are expressed;.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “We still have books because they are so brilliantly suited to the way human beings absorb information and at their best, they are among the most beautiful things we have.”

17. “We still have books because they are so brilliantly suited to the way human beings absorb information and at their best, they are among the most beautiful things we have.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Similarly for marking exercises, quantitative exercises, maybe not so much in mathematics, but certainly problem sets in physics, chemistry, and engineering and things like that where answers and methods are clear cut, absolutely. I would like to see that done online.”

18. “Similarly for marking exercises, quantitative exercises, maybe not so much in mathematics, but certainly problem sets in physics, chemistry, and engineering and things like that where answers and methods are clear cut, absolutely. I would like to see that done online.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “If this is the information age, what are we so well-informed about?”

19. “If this is the information age, what are we so well-informed about?”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “There are certain subjects which seem to me can be taught very effectively online, although they aren’t.”

20. “There are certain subjects which seem to me can be taught very effectively online, although they aren’t.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “At the same time, on the networks, there are thousands of groups that are building lifestreams, or lifestreaming for themselves in their own way. We’d love to see this activity.”

21. “At the same time, on the networks, there are thousands of groups that are building lifestreams, or lifestreaming for themselves in their own way. We’d love to see this activity.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Software unification. So that I no longer care what computing device I pick up, whether it’s a laptop or desktop, whether it’s one I own or one in a public place, whether it has a small screen or a large screen.”

22. “Software unification. So that I no longer care what computing device I pick up, whether it’s a laptop or desktop, whether it’s one I own or one in a public place, whether it has a small screen or a large screen.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Abolishing the book is like abolishing the symphony, or sonata form, or the sonnet, or the wall painting.”

23. “Abolishing the book is like abolishing the symphony, or sonata form, or the sonnet, or the wall painting.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “I think the universities as we know them will be dead in a future years. I’d like to see them replaced by something better, instead of something worse, and it’s not clear which way it will go.”

24. “I think the universities as we know them will be dead in a future years. I’d like to see them replaced by something better, instead of something worse, and it’s not clear which way it will go.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “The first step is always to succeed in becoming surprised – to notice that there is something funny going on.”

25. “The first step is always to succeed in becoming surprised – to notice that there is something funny going on.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “I would love to see writing taught online because at university like Yale, there are not enough teachers who are able to teach writing well, or in some cases, there are none.”

26. “I would love to see writing taught online because at university like Yale, there are not enough teachers who are able to teach writing well, or in some cases, there are none.”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “One: Make Congress and the White House obey the same Obamacare rules you do. Two: Obama let business off for a year; we want workers to be let off for a year too. That’s the GOP plan. What part don’t you like?”

27. “One: Make Congress and the White House obey the same Obamacare rules you do. Two: Obama let business off for a year; we want workers to be let off for a year too. That’s the GOP plan. What part don’t you like?”

— David Gelernter

David Gelernter Quote: “Discouragement is a moral state, a failure of heart; you treat it by taking courage, not Prozac.”

28. “Discouragement is a moral state, a failure of heart; you treat it by taking courage, not Prozac.”

— David Gelernter

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LIFE SPIRITUALITY

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