People Quotes by Linus Torvalds

I'm basically a very lazy person who likes to get credit for things other people actually do.

— Linus Torvalds

People will realize that software is not a product; you use it to build a product.

— Linus Torvalds

People who are doing things for fun do things the right way by themselves.

— Linus Torvalds

I claim that Mach people (and apparently FreeBSD) are incompetent idiots.

— Linus Torvalds

In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people.

— Linus Torvalds

Portability is for people who cannot write new programs

— Linus Torvalds

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

— Linus Torvalds

I like offending people, because I think people who get offended should be offended.

— 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

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

— 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

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

— Linus Torvalds

Real quality means making sure that people are proud of the code they write, that they're involved and taking it personally.

— 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

People enjoy the interaction on the Internet, and the feeling of belonging to a group that does something interesting: that's how some…

— Linus Torvalds

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or…

— 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 doubt at all that virtualization is useful in some areas. What I doubt rather strongly is that it will ever…

— 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

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

— Linus Torvalds

I'm not a big believer in revolutions. What people call revolutions in technology were more of a shift in perception - from…

— Linus Torvalds

Modern PCs are horrible. ACPI is a complete design disaster in every way. But we're kind of stuck with it. If any…

— Linus Torvalds

I actually don't believe that everybody should necessarily try to learn to code. I think it's reasonably specialized, and nobody really expects…

— Linus Torvalds

Other people have other goals, and sometimes the BSD style licenses are better for those goals. I personally tend to prefer the…

— 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

In science, the whole system builds on people looking at other people's results and building on top of them. In witchcraft, somebody…

— Linus Torvalds

It just makes it even harder for people to even approach the (open source) side, when they then end up having to…

— Linus Torvalds

In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved.

— Linus Torvalds

Hmmm, completely a-religious - atheist. I find that people seem to think religion brings morals and appreciation of nature. I actually think…

— Linus Torvalds

What I find most interesting is how people really have taken Linux and used it in ways and attributes and motivations that…

— Linus Torvalds

One of the reasons that I really don't mind that people are selling Linux commercially is exactly because it does make me…

— Linus Torvalds

The cyberspace earnings I get from Linux come in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust…

— Linus Torvalds

When you say 'I wrote a program that crashed Windows,' people just stare at you blankly and say 'Hey, I got those…

— 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

I personally think of Linux development as being pretty non-localized, and I work with all the people entirely over e-mail - even…

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

— 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