“You have to make the rules, not follow them”

“When it comes to rules and laws, either you follow them blindly or you dismiss everything completely as nonsense.”

““They (i. e., the Olympian gods) operate on moral principles. You have to break a promise to them, or break a rule, for them to get power over you.”
Victor commented darkly, “That explains why religions have rules no one can follow. If everyone is a sinner, by definition, everyone is under their power.””

“If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”

“rules exist for a reason. Rules exist because when people don't follow them, people get hurt.”

“But sticking to rules just because they're there does not make them right. You need to learn when the rules should be broken.”

“We follow two rules in the matter of optimization:
Rule 1: Don't do it.
Rule 2 (for experts only). Don't do it yet - that is, not until you have a perfectly clear and unoptimized solution.”

“That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.”

“Fools follow rules when the set commands you.”

“If you have goals and the stick-with-it-ness to make things happen, people will feel threatened by you, especially if your goals don’t include them. They believe that if you take a piece of pie, then that leaves less pie for them. Seeing you follow your dreams leaves them realizing that they’re not following theirs. In truth, there is unlimited pie for everyone!”