Linus Torvalds

Hey, I'm a good software engineer, but I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. White socks and sandals don't translate to…

— Linus Torvalds

The idea of abstracting away the one thing that must be blindingly fast, the kernel, is inherently counter productive.

— Linus Torvalds

I've actually found the image of Silicon Valley as a hotbed of money-grubbing tech people to be pretty false, but maybe that's…

— Linus Torvalds

If you start doing things because you hate others and want to screw them over, the end result is bad.

— Linus Torvalds

In many cases, the user interface to a program is the most important part for a commercial company: whether the programs works…

— Linus Torvalds

Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't…

— Linus Torvalds

I used to be interested in Windows NT, but the more I see it, the more it looks like traditional Windows with…

— Linus Torvalds

To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That…

— Linus Torvalds

Often your 'fixes' are actually removing capabilities that you had, because they were 'too confusing to the user'. GNOME seems to be…

— Linus Torvalds

I don't doubt at all that virtualization is useful in some areas. What I doubt rather strongly is that it will ever…

— Linus Torvalds

I will, in fact, claim that the difference between a bad programmer and a good one is whether he considers his code…

— Linus Torvalds

The Linux kernel is under the GPL version 2. Not anything else. Some individual files are licensable under v3, but not the…

— Linus Torvalds

While I may not get any money from Linux, I get a huge personal satisfaction from having written something that people really…

— Linus Torvalds

When I do programming in my free time and for my own enjoyment, I really want to have a kind of protection:…

— Linus Torvalds

So I decided that if the architecture is fundamentally sane enough, say it follows some basic rules like it supported paging ,…

— Linus Torvalds

I started Linux because I wanted to see it on the desktop... I do hope that the desktop people would try to…

— Linus Torvalds

I really never wanted to do source control management at all and felt that it was just about the least interesting thing…

— Linus Torvalds

I've been employed by the University of Helsinki, and they've been perfectly happy to keep me employed and doing Linux.

— Linus Torvalds

The correct form factor for a laptop is obviously 12" and 2 lbs, and I don't understand why everybody gets that wrong.

— Linus Torvalds

Finnish companies tend to be very traditional, not taking many risks. Silicon Valley is completely different: people here really live on the…

— Linus Torvalds

Every time I see some piece of medical research saying that caffeine is good for you, I high-five myself. Because I'm going…

— Linus Torvalds

I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.

— Linus Torvalds

I'm a technical manager, but I don't have to take care of people. I only have to worry about technology itself.

— Linus Torvalds

I am pragmatic. That which works, works, and theory can go screw itself. However, my pragmatism also extends to maintainability, which is…

— Linus Torvalds

Bill Gates really seems to be much more of a business man than a technologist, while I prefer to think of Linux…

— Linus Torvalds

To be honest, the fact that people trust you gives you a lot of power over people. Having another person's trust is…

— Linus Torvalds

Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it.

— Linus Torvalds

I can mostly laugh at myself and this whole mess called "Linux developers," which means that I get along with most people…

— Linus Torvalds

I think people can generally trust me, but they can trust me exactly because they know they don't have to.

— Linus Torvalds

See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky…

— Linus Torvalds

I think Leopard is a much better system [than Windows Vista] but OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows…

— Linus Torvalds

I never felt that the naming issue was all that important, but I was obviously wrong, judging by how many people felt.…

— Linus Torvalds

I'd much rather have 15 people arguing about something than 15 people splitting into two camps, each side convinced it's right and…

— Linus Torvalds

I'm perfectly happy complaining, because it's cathartic, and I'm perfectly happy arguing with people on the Internet because arguing is my favourite…

— Linus Torvalds

When it comes to software, I much prefer free software, because I have very seldom seen a program that has worked well…

— Linus Torvalds

I think that freely available software can not only keep up with the evolution of commercial software, but often exceed what you…

— Linus Torvalds

The thing with Linux is that the developers themselves are actually customers too: that has always been an important part of Linux.

— Linus Torvalds

Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to…

— Linus Torvalds

I try to avoid long-range plans and visions - that way I can more easily deal with anything new that comes up.

— Linus Torvalds

That's what makes Linux so good: you put in something, and that effort multiplies. It's a positive feedback cycle.

— Linus Torvalds