Debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?
Brian W. Kernighan
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.
John Gall
Douglas Crockford: Code reading requires a lot of trust on the part of the team members so there have to be clear rules as to what's in bounds and what's not. If you had a dysfunctional team, you don't want to be doing this, because they'll tear themselves apart.
Peter Seibel
The manager's function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.
Tom DeMarco
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
Frederick P. Brooks
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
Frederick P. Brooks
The source code is often the only accurate description of the software. On many projects, the only documentation available to programmers is the code itself. Requirements specifications and design documents can go out of date, but the source code is always up to date.
Steve McConnell
Testing by itself does not improve software quality. Test results are an indicator of quality, but in and of themselves, they don't improve it. Trying to improve software quality by increasing the amount of testing is like trying to lose weight by weighing yourself more often.
Steve McConnell