Donald E Knuth - Collected Quotes

"It’s the idea that counts true; but we need a name for the idea, so we can apply it more easily next time." (Donald E Knuth, "Surreal Numbers", 1968)

"[…] random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random. Some theory should be used." (Donald E Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming" Vol. II, 1968)

"The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music." (Donald E Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming: Fundamental algorithms", 1968)

"The real problem is that programmers have spent far too much time worrying about efficiency in the wrong places and at the wrong times; premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." (Donald E Knuth, "Computer Programming as an Art", 1968)

"These machines have no common sense; they have not yet learned to 'think', and they do exactly as they are told, no more and no less. This fact is the hardest concept to grasp when one first tries to use a computer." (Donald E Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming", 1968)

"We have seen that computer programming is an art, because it applies accumulated knowledge to the world, because it requires skill and ingenuity, and especially because it produces objects of beauty. A programmer who subconsciously views himself as an artist will enjoy what he does and will do it better. Therefore we can be glad that people who lecture at computer conferences speak of the state of the Art." (Donald E Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming", 1968)

"Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs: Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do." (Donald E Knuth, "Literate Programming", 1984)

"Meta-design is much more difficult than design; it's easier to draw something than to explain how to draw it." (Donald E Knuth, "The METAFONTbook", 1986)

"The ultimate goal of mathematics is to eliminate all need for intelligent thought." (Donald E Knuth, "Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science", 1990)

"Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do." (Donald E Knuth, [foreword to the book "A=B" by Marko Petkovsek et al] 1996)

"The whole thing that makes a mathematician's life worthwhile is that he gets the grudging admiration of three or four colleagues." (Donald E Knuth, [interview] 1996)

"The best programs are written so that computing machines can perform them quickly and so that human beings can understand them clearly. A programmer is ideally an essayist who works with traditional aesthetic and literary forms as well as mathematical concepts, to communicate the way that an algorithm works and to convince a reader that the results will be correct." (Donald E Knuth,"Selected Papers on Computer Science") 

"The difference between art and science is that science is what people understand well enough to explain to a computer. All else is art." (Donald E Knuth)