Quotes from Larry Wall

The problem with being consistent is that there are lots of ways to be consistent, and they're all inconsistent with each other

Post-Modernism was a reaction against Modernism. It came quite early to music and literature, and a little later to architecture. And I think it's still coming to computer science.

Perl was designed to work more like a natural language. It's a little more complicated but there are more shortcuts, and once you learned the language, it's more expressive.

Programmers can be lazy.

Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris.

Some of modern engineering is necessary to good art. But I think of myself is a cultural artist.

Computer language design is just like a stroll in the park. Jurassic Park, that is.

Being famous has its benefits, but fame isn't one of them.

Life gets boring, someone invents another necessity, and once again we turn the crank on the screwjack of progress hoping that nobody gets screwed.

I try not to confuse roles and traits in my own life. Being the Perl god is a role. Being a stubborn cuss is a trait.

I take time to watch anime. I don't know whether I'm allowed to, but I do it anyway.

When's the last time you used duct tape on a duct?

Unix is like a toll road on which you have to stop every 50 feet to pay another nickel. But hey! You only feel 5 cents poorer each time.

For me, writing is a love-hate relationship.

If you're a large corporation, you can afford to pay the money to register patents, but if you're an individual like me, you can't.

Hubris itself will not let you be an artist.

I still drive my 1977 Honda Accord. The paint is almost all worn off. It's still running.

I want to see people using Perl to glue things together creatively, not just technically but also socially.

If any ideology is so serious that you can't have fun while you're doing it, it's probably too serious.

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.

It is my job in life to travel all roads, so that some may take the road less travelled, and others the road more travelled, and all have a pleasant day.

True greatness is measured by how much freedom you give to others, not by how much you can coerce others to do what you want.

Younger hackers are hard to classify. They're probably just as diverse as the old hackers are. We're all over the map.

I think software patents are a bad idea. Many patents are given for trivial inventions.