Linus Torvalds Quotes

A computer is like air conditioning - it becomes useless when you open Windows

Most of the good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.

Talk is cheap. Show me the code.

Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.

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

Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

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

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

What commercialism has brought to Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out.

Only wimps use tape backup. Real men just upload their important stuff on ftp and let the rest of the world mirror it.

All operating systems sucks, but Linux just sucks less

C++ is a horrible language. It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it.

I have one very basic rule when it comes to "good ideas". A good idea is not an idea that solves a problem cleanly. A good idea is an idea that solves several things at the same time. The mark of good coding is not that the program does what you want, it's that it also does something that you didn't start out wanting.

Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen an angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.

Often your 'fixes' are actually removing capabilities that you had, because they were 'too confusing to the user'. GNOME seems to be developed by interface Nazis, where consistently the excuse for not doing something is not 'it's too complicated to do', but 'it would confuse users'.

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

In many cases the user interface to a program is the most important part for a commercial company: whether the programs works correctly or not seems to be secondary.

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

Modern PCs are horrible. ACPI is a complete design disaster in every way. But we're kind of stuck with it. If any Intel people are listening to this and you had anything to do with ACPI, shoot yourself now, before you reproduce.

In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.

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

If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.

Those that can, do. Those that can't, complain.

UNIX has a philosophy, it has 25 years of history behind it, and most importantly, it has a clean core. It strives for something - some kind of beauty. And that's really what struck me as a programmer. Operating systems that normal home users are used to, such as DOS and Windows, didn't have any way of life. Nobody tried to design Windows - it just grew in random directions without any kind of thought behind it. [...] I don't think Microsoft is evil in itself; I just think that they make really crappy operating systems.

Software is like sex: It's better when it's free.

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

Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.

Nobody actually creates perfect code the first time around, except me. But there's only one of me.

I may make jokes about Microsoft at times, but at the same time, I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease.

I used to be interested in Windows NT, but the more I see it, the more it looks like traditional Windows with a stabler kernel. I don't find anything technically interesting there.

I want my office to be quiet. The loudest thing in the room - by far - should be the occasional purring of the cat.

Don't hurry your code. Make sure it works well and is well designed. Don't worry about timing.

Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.

In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money than it is at making good operating systems.

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

I started Linux as a desktop operating system. And it's the only area where Linux hasn't completely taken over. That just annoys the hell out of me.

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

The fact that ACPI was designed by a group of monkeys high on LSD, and is some of the worst designs in the industry obviously makes running it at any point pretty damn ugly.

When you say 'I wrote a program that crashed Windows,' people just stare at you blankly and say 'Hey, I got those with the system, for free.'

To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

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 'good design sense'.

I think Leopard is a much better system [than Windows Vista] but OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary.

We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds.

I'm not a big believer in revolutions. What people call revolutions in technology were more of a shift in perception - from big machines to PC's (the technology just evolved, fairly slowly at that), and from PC's to the internet. The next "revolution" is going to be the same thing - not about the technology itself being revolutionary, but a shift in how you look at it and how you use it.

Once you realize that documentation should be laughed at, peed upon, put on fire, and just ridiculed in general, then, and only then, have you reached the level where you can safely read it and try to use it to actually implement a driver.

There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works but only want to use it is not only a tribute to how good Linux is, but it also brings up issues that I would never have thought of otherwise.

I am pragmatic. That which works, works, and theory can go screw itself. However, my pragmatism also extends to maintainability, which is why I also want it done well.

Programmers are in the enviable position of not only getting to do what they want to, but because the end result is so important they get paid to do it. There are other professions like that, but not that many.

I get the biggest enjoyment from the random and unexpected places. Linux on cellphones or refrigerators, just because it's so not what I envisioned it. Or on supercomputers.

And what's the Internet without the rick-roll?