“Cobol, for all its sometime popularity, does not seem to have any intellectual descendants. It is an evolutionary dead- end a Neanderthal… — Paul Graham Copy Share Image
“And the reason everyone doesn’t use Listp is that programming languages are not merely technologies, but habits of mind as well, and… — Paul Graham Habits Copy Share Image
“People who write about politics, whether on the left or the right, have a consistent bias: they take politics seriously.” — Paul Graham Politics Copy Share Image
“We need a language that lets us scribble and smudge and smear, not a language where you have to sit with a… — Paul Graham Communication Copy Share Image
“If language A has an operator for removing spaces from strings and language B doesn’t, that probably doesn’t make A more powerful,… — Paul Graham Copy Share Image
“If a writer rewrites an essay, people who read the new version are unlikely to complain that their thoughts have been broken… — Paul Graham Humor Copy Share Image
“Just fix things that seem broken, regardless of whether it seems likes the problem is important enough to build a company on.” — Paul Graham Business Copy Share Image
“If you leave a bunch of eleven-year-olds to their own devices, what you get is Lord of the Flies. Like a lot… — Paul Graham Books Copy Share Image
“Unknowing imitation is almost a recipe for bad design. If you don’t know where your ideas are coming from, you’re probably imitating… — Paul Graham Copy Share Image
“The difference between design and research seems to be a question of new versus good. Design doesn't have to be new, but… — Paul Graham Different directions Copy Share Image
“There are plenty of other ways to get money, including chance, speculation, marriage, inheritance, theft, extortion, fraud, monopoly, graft, lobbying, counterfeiting, and… — Paul Graham Corruption Copy Share Image
“It's important for nerds to realize, too, that school is not life. School is a strange, artificial thing, half sterile and half… — Paul Graham Life Copy Share Image
“This is the kind of possibility that the pointy-haired boss doesn’t even want to think about. And so most of them don’t.… — Paul Graham Business Copy Share Image
“You can't distinguish your group by doing things that are rational and believing things that are true. If you want to set… — Paul Graham Doing things Copy Share Image
“At every period of history, people have believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you risked ostracism… — Paul Graham Beliefs Copy Share Image
“A startup is like a mosquito. A bear can absorb a hit and a crab is armored against one, but a mosquito… — Paul Graham Copy Share Image
