Linus Torvalds

Software is like sex: It's better when it's free.

— Linus Torvalds

Working in lock-step simply isn't a good idea. Never has been, never will be.

— Linus Torvalds

I love making friends… it's people I can't stand.

— Linus Torvalds

Software is like sex. It's only good when it's for free.

— Linus Torvalds

In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.

— Linus Torvalds

No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal.

— Linus Torvalds

Don't hurry your code. Make sure it works well and is well designed. Don't worry about timing.

— Linus Torvalds

Me trying to make a business around Linux would have been a total disaster.

— Linus Torvalds

There are literally several levels of SCO being wrong. And even if we were to live in that alternate universe where SCO…

— Linus Torvalds

I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.

— Linus Torvalds

Being open source meant that I could work on the technical side (along with lots of other people), and others who had…

— Linus Torvalds

I get the biggest enjoyment from the random and unexpected places. Linux on cellphones or refrigerators, just because it's so not what…

— Linus Torvalds

Whoever came up with "hold the shift key for eight seconds to turn on 'your keyboard is buggered' mode" should be shot.

— Linus Torvalds

It's what I call "mental masturbation", when you engage is some pointless intellectual exercise that has no possible meaning.

— Linus Torvalds

Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals…

— Linus Torvalds

In many ways, I am very happy about the whole Linux commercial market because the commercial market is doing all these things…

— Linus Torvalds

I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving…

— Linus Torvalds

So I've decided to be a very rich and famous person who doesn't really care about money, and who is very humble…

— Linus Torvalds

Language is one of the fundamental principles of human understanding. It is the way we interact with each other and how we…

— Linus Torvalds

I was never a "big thinker". One of my philosophies in Linux has always been to not worry about the future too…

— Linus Torvalds

There were open source projects and free software before Linux was there. Linux in many ways is one of the more visible…

— Linus Torvalds

I don't actually go to that many conferences. I do that a couple of times a year. Normally, I am not recognized;…

— Linus Torvalds

Once you realize that documentation should be laughed at, peed upon, put on fire, and just ridiculed in general, then, and only…

— Linus Torvalds

The complaints I've had is that GitHub as a development platform - making commits, pull requests, keeping track of issues etc -…

— Linus Torvalds

If you like using CVS, you should be in some kind of mental institution or somewhere else.

— Linus Torvalds

Helsinki isn't all that bad. It's a very nice city, and it's cold really only in wintertime.

— Linus Torvalds

Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life.

— Linus Torvalds

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

— Linus Torvalds

A computer is like air conditioning - it becomes useless when you open Windows

— Linus Torvalds

Real men don't use backups, they post their stuff on a public ftp

— Linus Torvalds

You won't get sued for anticompetitive behavior.

— Linus Torvalds

A lot of people still like Solaris, but I'm in active competition with them, and so I hope they die.

— Linus Torvalds

The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without…

— Linus Torvalds

The bulk of all patents are crap. Spending time reading them is stupid. It's up to the patent owner to do so,…

— Linus Torvalds

I never try to make any far-reaching predictions, so much can happen that it simply only makes you look stupid a few…

— Linus Torvalds

This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots,…

— Linus Torvalds

I see myself as a technical person who chose a great project and a great way of doing that project.

— Linus Torvalds

I like to think that I've been a good manager. That fact has been very instrumental in making Linux a successful product.

— Linus Torvalds

I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues.

— Linus Torvalds

An individual developer like me cares about writing the new code and making it as interesting and efficient as possible. But very…

— Linus Torvalds