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Top 15 Philip Greenspun Quotes (2025 Update)

Philip Greenspun Quote: “SQL, Lisp, and Haskell are the only programming languages that I’ve seen where one spends more time thinking than typing.”

1. “SQL, Lisp, and Haskell are the only programming languages that I’ve seen where one spends more time thinking than typing.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Greenspun’s Tenth Rule of Programming: any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc informally-specified bug-ridden slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.”

2. “Greenspun’s Tenth Rule of Programming: any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc informally-specified bug-ridden slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “The devil is real. He lives inside C programs.”

3. “The devil is real. He lives inside C programs.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “I don’t myself believe in astrology. However, I think that’s because I’m a Libra and Libras are always skeptical.”

4. “I don’t myself believe in astrology. However, I think that’s because I’m a Libra and Libras are always skeptical.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Remember that in 1993 a company with a bad Web site needed an engineer. Today, a company with a bad Web site needs a psychiatrist.”

5. “Remember that in 1993 a company with a bad Web site needed an engineer. Today, a company with a bad Web site needs a psychiatrist.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “We worried about competitors, but it was an unreasonable fear. As a friend once pointed out, most gunshot wounds are self-inflicted.”

6. “We worried about competitors, but it was an unreasonable fear. As a friend once pointed out, most gunshot wounds are self-inflicted.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Although the Buddhists will tell you that desire is the root of suffering, my personal experience leads me to point the finger at system administration.”

7. “Although the Buddhists will tell you that desire is the root of suffering, my personal experience leads me to point the finger at system administration.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Even the lamest page can be saved by collaboration.”

8. “Even the lamest page can be saved by collaboration.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Like most people in Academia, my vision of the future is the same as the average industry person’s vision of five years ago.”

9. “Like most people in Academia, my vision of the future is the same as the average industry person’s vision of five years ago.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “We’re not a vocational school. If someone wants to get a high-paying job, I would hope that there are easier ways to do it than working through a formal computer science curriculum.”

10. “We’re not a vocational school. If someone wants to get a high-paying job, I would hope that there are easier ways to do it than working through a formal computer science curriculum.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Most people who are rich chose their parents wisely.”

11. “Most people who are rich chose their parents wisely.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Frame is a good enough piece of software that there are actually rewards to taking an intelligent and formal approach to your problem. But if you want to be stupid, you can think of Frame as a version of Microsoft Word with most of the bugs taken out.”

12. “Frame is a good enough piece of software that there are actually rewards to taking an intelligent and formal approach to your problem. But if you want to be stupid, you can think of Frame as a version of Microsoft Word with most of the bugs taken out.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Programmers are isolated. They sit in their cubicle; they don’t think about the larger picture. To my mind, a programmer is not an engineer, because an engineer is somebody who starts with a social problem that an organization or a society has and says, “OK, here’s this problem that we have- how can we solve it?” The engineer comes up with a clever, cost-effective solution to address that problem, builds it, tests it to make sure it solves the problem. That’s engineering.”

13. “Programmers are isolated. They sit in their cubicle; they don’t think about the larger picture. To my mind, a programmer is not an engineer, because an engineer is somebody who starts with a social problem that an organization or a society has and says, “OK, here’s this problem that we have- how can we solve it?” The engineer comes up with a clever, cost-effective solution to address that problem, builds it, tests it to make sure it solves the problem. That’s engineering.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “If I’d had more time or been a better writer, I would have tried to put the same ideas and experiences into a novel. But I didn’t so I slapped it up on the Web.”

14. “If I’d had more time or been a better writer, I would have tried to put the same ideas and experiences into a novel. But I didn’t so I slapped it up on the Web.”

— Philip Greenspun

Philip Greenspun Quote: “Even within traditional universities there has always been debate about whether it wouldn’t be better to focus on only one course at a time.”

15. “Even within traditional universities there has always been debate about whether it wouldn’t be better to focus on only one course at a time.”

— Philip Greenspun

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