Quotes from Paul Graham

A programming language is for thinking about programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of. It should be a pencil, not a pen.

There are plenty of smart people who get nowhere.

Like having a child, running a startup is the sort of experience that's hard to imagine unless you've done it yourself.

Startups often have to do dubious things.

You need rich people in your society not so much because in spending their money they create jobs, but because of what they have to do to get rich. I'm not talking about the trickle-down effect here. I'm not saying that if you let Henry Ford get rich, he'll hire you as a waiter at his next party. I'm saying that he'll make you a tractor to replace your horse.

As for building something users love, here are some general tips. Start by making something clean and simple that you would want to use yourself. Get a version 1.0 out fast, then continue to improve the software, listening closely to users as you do. The customer is always right, but different customers are right about different things; the least sophisticated users show you what you need to simplify and clarify, and the most sophisticated tell you what features you need to add.

Before you develop a conscience, torture is amusing.

In our world, you sink or swim, and there are no excuses.

If you're in a job that feels safe, you are not going to get exceptional, because if there is no danger there is almost certainly no leverage.

When Bauhaus designers adopted Sullivan's form follows function, what they meant was, form should follow function. And if function is hard enough, form is forced to follow it, because there is no effort to spare for error. Wild animals are beautiful because they have hard lives.

You have to be able to see things from the user's point of view.

You can go anywhere in books