---
title: "2 Bad thoughts Quotes By Larry Wall"
description: "2 Bad thoughts quotes by Larry Wall. Plus more from Larry Wall and more Bad thoughts sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-int_2073696.png"
---

> [Many computer scientists have fallen into the trap of trying to define languages like George Orwell's Newspeak, in which it is impossible to think bad thoughts. What they end up doing is killing the creativity of programming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-into-the-trap-of-trying-to/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-int_2073696.png)

> [“Modernism was based on a kind of arrogance ... and led designers to believe that if they thought of something cool, it must be considered universally cool. That is, if something's worth doing, it's worth driving into the ground to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/modernism-was-based-on-a-kind-of-arrogance-and-led-designers-to/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_modernism-was-based-on-a-kind-of-arrogan_3198582.jpg)

## Other authors on Bad thoughts

## More by Larry Wall

> [Not that I have anything much against redundancy. But I said that already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/not-that-i-have-anything-much-against-redundancy-but-i-said-that/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [Perhaps you should compile your Perl with long doubles one of these megaseconds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/perhaps-you-should-compile-your-perl-with-long-doubles-one-of-these/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [Take Lisp, you know its the most beautiful language in the world -- at least up until Haskell came along.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/take-lisp-you-know-its-the-most-beautiful-language-in-the-world-at/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [I'm reminded of the day my daughter came in, looked over my shoulder at some Perl 4 code, and said, 'What is that, swearing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/i-m-reminded-of-the-day-my-daughter-came-in-looked-over-my-shoulder/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [Yes, but I did manage to increase the amount of virginity in the world by that method.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/yes-but-i-did-manage-to-increase-the-amount-of-virginity-in-the-world/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [I won't mention any names, because I don't want to get sun4's into trouble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/i-won-t-mention-any-names-because-i-don-t-want-to-get-sun4-s-into/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [And besides, if Perl really takes off in the Windows space, I think the rest of us would just as soon have a double-agent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/and-besides-if-perl-really-takes-off-in-the-windows-space-i-think-the/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [In general, they do what you want, unless you want consistency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/in-general-they-do-what-you-want-unless-you-want-consistency/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [I suppose you could switch grammars once you've seen 'use strict subs'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/i-suppose-you-could-switch-grammars-once-you-ve-seen-use-strict-subs/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [While I have historically been a late worker, you know, sometimes I even like to get up early and see what's happened in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/while-i-have-historically-been-a-late-worker-you-know-sometimes-i/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/all-language-designers-are-arrogant-goes-with-the-territory/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [Perl has a long tradition of working around compilers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/perl-has-a-long-tradition-of-working-around-compilers/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [Part of language design is perturbing the proposed feature in various directions to see how it might generalize in the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/part-of-language-design-is-perturbing-the-proposed-feature-in-various/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [We can debug relationships, but it's always good policy to consider the people themselves to be features. People get annoyed when you try to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/we-can-debug-relationships-but-it-s-always-good-policy-to-consider/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

> [The whole intent of Perl 5's module system was to encourage the growth of Perl culture rather than the Perl core.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/the-whole-intent-of-perl-5-s-module-system-was-to-encourage-the/)

[Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Bad thoughts Quotes By Larry Wall",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Many computer scientists have fallen into the trap of trying to define languages like George Orwell's Newspeak, in which it is impossible to think bad thoughts. What they end up doing is killing the creativity of programming.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Larry Wall"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-into-the-trap-of-trying-to/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-int_2073696.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-int_2073696.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-int_2073696.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Many computer scientists have fallen into the trap of trying to define languages like George Orwell's…” — Larry Wall",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Modernism was based on a kind of arrogance ... and led designers to believe that if they thought of something cool, it must be considered universally cool. That is, if something's worth doing, it's worth driving into the ground to the exclusion of all other approaches. Look at the use of parentheses in Lisp or the use of white space as syntax in Python. Or the mandatory use of objects in many languages, including Java. All of these are ways of taking freedom away from the end user \"for their own good\". They're just versions of Orwell's Newspeak, in which it's impossible to think bad thoughts. We escaped from the fashion police in the 1970s, but many programmers are still slaves of the cyber police.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Larry Wall"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/modernism-was-based-on-a-kind-of-arrogance-and-led-designers-to/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_modernism-was-based-on-a-kind-of-arrogan_3198582.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_modernism-was-based-on-a-kind-of-arrogan_3198582.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_modernism-was-based-on-a-kind-of-arrogan_3198582.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Modernism was based on a kind of arrogance ... and led designers to believe that if they thought of…” — Larry Wall",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/",
            "name": "Bad thoughts Quotes by Larry Wall",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/larry-wall-1576_bad-thoughts_many-computer-scientists-have-fallen-int_2073696.png"
            },
            "description": "2 Bad thoughts quotes by Larry Wall. Plus more from Larry Wall and more Bad thoughts sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Bad Thoughts",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Larry Wall",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-thoughts/larry-wall/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
