“We reject: kings, presidents and voting.
We believe in: rough consensus and running code.”

—  David Clark

A Cloudy Crystal Ball -- Visions of the Future, PDF, 1992-07-16, 2016-05-13 https://groups.csail.mit.edu/ana/People/DDC/future_ietf_92.pdf, (Presentation given at the 24th Internet Engineering Task Force)
frequently cited as the motto of the Internet engineering community

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We reject: kings, presidents and voting. We believe in: rough consensus and running code." by David Clark?
David Clark photo
David Clark 1
American computer scientist 1944

Related quotes

Al Sharpton photo
Nick Zedd photo
Margaret Thatcher photo

“This didn't come about because of consensus. It happened because we said: this we believe, this we will do. It's called leadership.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Speech to Conservative Central Council (15 March 1986) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106348
Second term as Prime Minister
Context: Seven years ago, who would have dared forecast such a transformation of Britain. This didn't come about because of consensus. It happened because we said: this we believe, this we will do. It's called leadership.

Gore Vidal photo

“Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

1990s, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire (1992)
Context: Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be. Any individual who is able to raise $25 million to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent oil, or aerospace, or banking, or whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Certainly he will never represent the people of the country, and they know it. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress.

Trent Lott photo

“When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it.”

Trent Lott (1941) United States Senator from Mississippi

On Strom Thurmond, from a speech at Thurmond's 100th birthday party (5 December 2002)
2000s
Context: I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either.

Lou Barletta photo
Al Sharpton photo

“But we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody.”

Al Sharpton (1954) American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host

From the 2004 DNC

Francisco Franco photo

“We do not believe in government through the voting booth.”

Francisco Franco (1892–1975) Spanish general and dictator

Statement during the civil war, cited in 1938 by TIME Magazine, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915079,00.html, also cited in John A. Crittenden, Parties and elections in the United States, Prentice-Hall, 1982, (p.6).
Context: We do not believe in government through the voting booth. The Spanish national will was never freely expressed through the ballot box. Spain has no foolish dreams.

Francis Escudero photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“We have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any President-President, because he's called President also. Now some people might call him the King of China, but he's called President.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Interviewed by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business on the subject of Xi Jinping https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/10/25/full_lou_dobbs_interview_trump_asks_what_could_be_more_fake_than_cbs_nbc_abc_and_cnn.html (25 October 2017)
2010s, 2017, October

Related topics