“People are basically irritating. Myself included.”

“It never fails. God will put people in your path that irritate you, especially if you're prone to be irritated.”

“I don't have pet peeves like some people. I have whole kennels of irritation.”

“BASIC is to computation what QWERTY is to typing. Many teachers have learned BASIC, many books have been written about it, many computers have been built in such a way that BASIC is "hardwired" into them. In the case of the typewriter, we noted how people invent "rationalizations" to justify the status quo. In the case of BASIC, the phenomenon has gone much further, to the point where it resembles ideology formation. Complex arguments are invented to justify features of BASIC that were originally included because the primitive technology demanded them or because alternatives were not well enough known at the time the language was designed.”

“Tanzania is standing by the people of Zimbabwe including President Mugabe… Mugabe is there, he is president, he has been elected. If Tanzania had simply said, stupid, you’re hopeless, a murderer, a violator of basic human rights; does that remove Mugabe from office? It doesn’t.”

“The basic thing, starting from the initial perception of these nuclei of contradictions (which include the principal contradiction of society as a larger epochal unit) is to study the inhabitants' awareness of these contradictions.”

“The goal of providing basic literacy and education to all the world’s people is still the most basic development challenge.”

“Looking back, I ask myself why so little of the basic research has had an impact on professional practice.”

“Change isn't always for the worst; the shell that forms around a piece of sand looks to some people like an irritation., and to others, like a pearl.”

“The basic mistake people make is to think that happiness is the goal!”