Linus Torvalds: Trending quotes

“Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.”

Linus Torvalds

“My name is Linus Torvalds and I am your god.”

Linus Torvalds

As quoted in: Young, Robert; Goldman Rohm, Wendy (1999), Under the Radar: How Red Hat Changed the Software Business – and Took Microsoft by Surprise, p. 111
Jokingly introducing himself, at the 1998 Linux Expo in Durham, North Carolina
2000s, (2001)

God

“95 percent of all software developers believe they are in the top 5 percent when it comes to knowledge and skills.”

Linus Torvalds

Attributed

Knowledge

“"Regression testing"? What's that? If it compiles, it is good; if it boots up, it is perfect.”

Linus Torvalds

1990s, 1995-99

Perfection

“Obsessing about things is important, and things really do matter, but if you can't let go of them, you'll end up crazy.”

Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds - Slashdot Interview, Torvalds, Linus, 2012-10-11, 2012-10-11 http://meta.slashdot.org/story/12/10/11/0030249/linus-torvalds-answers-your-questions,
2010s, 2012

“On the internet nobody can hear you being subtle.”

Linus Torvalds

<nowiki>Linus Torvalds' Best Quotes from LinuxCon Europe 2014</nowiki>, Clark, Libby, 2014-10-18, 2014-10-18 http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/791788-linus-torvalds-best-quotes-from-linuxcon-europe-2014,
2010s, 2014

“Software is like sex; it's better when it's free.”

Linus Torvalds

Attributed to Torvalds at 1996 FSF conference, video showing this phrase in one of Torvalds papers (time code: 48.44) https://web.archive.org/web/20071016215132/http://www.argentilinux.com.ar/doku.php/linux_videos_documentales:the_code_linux
Attributed

Sex

“Talk is cheap. Show me the code.”

Linus Torvalds

Message to linux-kernel mailing list, 2000-08-25, Torvalds, Linus, 2006-08-28 http://lkml.org/lkml/2000/8/25/132,
2000s, 2000-04

“I hope I won't end up having to hunt you all down and kill you in your sleep.”

Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds - Google+, Torvalds, Linus, 2013-04-05, 2013-04-05 https://plus.google.com/102150693225130002912/posts/hvnMn1fFKEm,
2010s, 2013

Hope , Sleep

“Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.”

Linus Torvalds

<nowiki>Linus Torvalds on Twitter</nowiki>, Torvalds, Linus, 2013-01-29, 2016-07-26 https://twitter.com/linus__torvalds/status/296333371393597440,
2010s, 2013

Evil

“In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people.”

Linus Torvalds

Post to mlist.linux.kernel newsgroup, 2001-10-04, Torvalds, Linus, 2016-05-01 https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mlist.linux.kernel/6Yj1ipr6nEc/dbhIEkhm4LgJ,
2000s, 2000-04

People

“Most days I wake up thinking I'm the luckiest bastard alive.”

Linus Torvalds

2000s, (2001)

Thinking

“Just for fun.”

Linus Torvalds

“Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of Minix.”

Linus Torvalds

Post to comp.os.minix newsgroup, 1992-01-29, Torvalds, Linus, 2006-08-28 http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1992Jan29.231426.20469%40klaava.Helsinki.FI, To Andrew Tanenbaum (author of Minix) during the Tanenbaum-Torvalds debate.
1990s, 1991-94

Hell

“Security people are often the black-and-white kind of people that I can't stand. I think the OpenBSD crowd is a bunch of masturbating monkeys, in that they make such a big deal about concentrating on security to the point where they pretty much admit that nothing else matters to them.”

Linus Torvalds

Linux 2.6.25.10, 2008-07-15, Torvalds, Linus, 2008-07-16 http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/706950,
2000s, 2008

People , Thinking

“I'm personally convinced that computer science has a lot in common with physics. Both are about how the world works at a rather fundamental level. The difference, of course, is that while in physics you're supposed to figure out how the world is made up, in computer science you create the world. Within the confines of the computer, you're the creator. You get to ultimately control everything that happens. If you're good enough, you can be God. On a small scale.”

Linus Torvalds

2000s, (2001)

God , World , Science , Personality

“So LSM stays in. No ifs, buts, maybes or anything else. When I see the security people making sane arguments and agreeing on something, that will change. Quite frankly, I expect hell to freeze over before that happens, and pigs will be nesting in trees. But hey, I can hope.”

Linus Torvalds

-- 10/1/07 -- http://web.archive.org/20071008195655/kerneltrap.org/Linux/Pluggable_Security
Attributed

People , Hope , Hell , Tree

“(In answer to the question: In the extreme case, if it was just you doing all the code, and the rest of the world quietly used it, would it make sense to give it away free? Unless you're particularly grateful for other free things you've got off the Net, would the answer be No?":)

I don't necessarily think so. It might be true in certain niche areas, but almost any project will give a developer that "feel good" feeling when he has users and he feels he is doing something worthwhile. I really don't think you need all that much "quid pro quo" in programming - most of the good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.”

Linus Torvalds

First Monday Interview with Linus Torvalds: What motivates free software developers?, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, interviewer, 1998‐03-02, 2013-06-02 http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/583/504,
1990s, 1995-99

World , Feeling , Question , Thinking

“Note that nobody reads every post in linux-kernel. In fact, nobody who expects to have time left over to actually do any real kernel work will read even half. Except Alan Cox, but he's actually not human, but about a thousand gnomes working in under-ground caves in Swansea. None of the individual gnomes read all the postings either, they just work together really well.”

Linus Torvalds

Post, Linux kernel mailing list, 2000-05-02, Google Groups, Torvalds, Linus, 2006-08-28 https://groups.google.com/d/msg/fa.linux.kernel/iQtWFALi4JA/eSzv64_tOvoJ,
2000s, 2000-04

Time , Reading

“To kind of explain what Linux is, you have to explain what an operating system is. And the thing about an operating system is that you're never ever supposed to see it. Because nobody really uses an operating system; people use programs on their computer. And the only mission in life of an operating system is to help those programs run. So an operating system never does anything on its own; it's only waiting for the programs to ask for certain resources, or ask for a certain file on the disk, or ask to connect to the outside world. And then the operating system steps in and tries to make it easy for people to write programs.”

Linus Torvalds

Interview in Revolution OS http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308808/, documentary, 2001.
2000s, 2000-04

Life , People , World , Waiting