“Good, Fast, Cheap, pick two”. This is a well-known saying in the software world. The Project triangle illustrates that you can’t have all three: Quality, Speed, Quantity.
Here are a few other quotes about programming:
Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.
– Bill Gates
The function of good software is to make the complex appear to be simple.
– Grady Booch
Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming.
– Brian Kernighan
You can’t have great software without a great team, and most software teams behave like dysfunctional families.
– Jim McCarthy
Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.
– Martin Fowler
Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code is a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
– Martin Golding
It’s the only job I can think of where I get to be both an engineer and an artist. There’s an incredible, rigorous, technical element to it, which I like because you have to do very precise thinking. On the other hand, it has a wildly creative side where the boundaries of imagination are the only real limitation.
– Andy Hertzfeld, about programming
4 Lines of Code 