# crittografia
“Two can keep a secret if one is dead.” (anonymous)
“A secret between two is a secret of God; a secret among three is everybody's secret.” (French proverb)
“Gentlemen do not read each others mail.” (Henry Lewis Stimson)
“We can factor the number 15 with quantum computers. We can also factor the number 15 with a dog trained to bark three times.” (Robert Harley, sci.crypt, 2001-12-05)
“I couldn't help but overhear, probably because I was eavesdropping.” (anonymous)
“ECC curves are divided into three groups, weak curves, inefficient curves, and curves patented by Certicom.” (Peter Gutmann, 2001-08-10)
“The Magic Words are Squeamish Ossifrage” (Ron Rivest, RSA-129 challenge, 1977)
“Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.” (John Von Neumann, 1951)
“Random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random.” (Donald Knuth, "Seminumerical Algorthms")
“In God we trust. Everybody else we verify using PGP!” (Tim Newsome)
“You don't have to distrust the government to want to use cryptography.” (Phil Zimmermann)
“Few false ideas have more firmly gripped the minds of so many intelligent men than the one that, if they just tried, they could invent a cipher that no one could break.” (David Kahn, "The Codebreakers", 1967)
“Quantum key distribution in superposition of "insecure" and "unneeded".” (Chris Lee, "Ars Technica", 2010-09-07, http://bit.ly/ars-qkd)
# ???
“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” (Voltaire)
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” (Albert Einstein)
“Digital files cannot be made uncopyable, any more than water can be made not wet.” (Bruce Schneier, 2001-05-15)
“More people are killed every year by pigs than by sharks, which shows you how good we are at evaluating risk.” (Bruce Schneier, "Beyond Fear", 2003)
# tecnologia
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (Arthur C. Clarke)
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
“The wonderful thing about science is that it doesn't ask for your faith, it just ask for your eyes.” (xkcd #154)
# computer e programmazione
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” (Ken Olson, founder of DEC, 1977)
“UNIX is user-friendly, it just chooses its friends.” (Andreas Bogk)
“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” (Pablo Picasso)
“There is no programming language, no matter how structured, that will prevent programmers from making bad programs.” (Larry Flon)
“If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.” (Weinberg's Second Law)
“Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.” (Donald Knuth, 1977-03-22)
“Premature optimisation is the root of all evil in programming.” (C. A. R. Hoare)
“Software and cathedrals are much the same - first we build them, then we pray.” (anonymous)
“He who hasn't hacked assembly language as a youth has no heart. He who does as an adult has no brain.” (John Moore)
“There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who do not” (anonymous)
“Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.” (Donald Knuth)
“…one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.” (Robert Firth)
“C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.” (Dennis M. Ritchie)
“The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.” (Edsger W. Dijkstra)
“Real Programmers always confuse Christmas and Halloween because Oct31 == Dec25.” (Andrew Rutherford)
“There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence.” (Jeremy S. Anderson)
“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” (Abelson & Sussman, SICP, preface to the first edition)
“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” (Martin Golding)
“The trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing until it’s too late.” (Seymour Cray)
“Good code is its own best documentation.” (Steve McConnell)
# ???
“When two trains approach each other at a crossing, both shall come to a full stop and neither shall start up again until the other has gone.” (Kansas State Legislature)
# futuro
“I never think of the future, it comes soon enough.” (Albert Einstein)
“The best way to predict the future is to implement it.” (David Heinemeier Hansson)
“The future is not google-able.” (William Gibson, 2004-02-05)
# previsioni sbagliate
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” (Lord Kelvin, 1895)
“X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” (Lord Kelvin, 1883)
“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now; All that remains is more and more precise measurement.” (Lord Kelvin, 1900)
“Will this gun not make war more terrible? No, it will make war impossible.” (Hudson Maxim, inventor of the machine gun, 1893)
# ???
“I do engineering, not religion.” (Daniel J. Bernstein)
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.” (Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See", 1991)
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” (Isaac Asimov, "Foundation", 1942-05)
“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” (Isaac Asimov)
“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” (Richard Feynman, 1965)
“The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."” (Isaac Asimov, "A Cult of Ignorance", 1980-01-21)
# religione
“I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.” (Douglas Adams)
“It seems to me that God is a convenient invention of the human mind.” (Isaac Asimov)
“Papists are not to enjoy the benefit of toleration because where they have power they thinke them selves bound to deny it to others.” (John Locke, "An Essay Concerning Toleration", 1667)
# film e libri
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” (William Gibson, "Neuromancer", 1984)
“We could tell you what it's about. But then, of course, we'd have to kill you.” (tagline of movie "Sneakers", 1992)
“Well, I guess cyborgs like myself have a tendency to be paranoid about our origins.” (Motoko Kusanagi in movie "Ghost in the Shell")
“Don't dream it… be it!” (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
“I can resist everything except temptation.” (Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan", 1892)
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” (Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray", 1890)
“We do what we must because we can.” (videogame "Portal", 2007)
“Endure. In enduring, grow strong.” (Dak'kon, videogame "Torment", 1999)
“I think, therefore I am… I think.” (Nordom, videogame "Torment", 1999)
# Robert A. Heinlein
“Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent.” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“Does history record any case in which the majority was right?” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“If tempted by something that feels "altruistic," examine your motives and root out that self-deception. Then, if you still want to do it, wallow in it!” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)
“Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "Waldo & Magic, Inc.", 1950)
“How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?” (Robert A. Heinlein, "Life-Line", 1939)
“The death rate is the same for us as for anybody… one person, one death, sooner or later.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "Tunnel in the Sky", 1955)
“Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "Methuselah's Children", 1958)
“A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "Methuselah's Children", 1958)
“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", 1966)
“Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls", 1985)
“It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "Revolt in 2100", 1953)
“The Bible is such a gargantuan collection of conflicting values that anyone can prove anything from it.” (Robert A. Heinlein, "The Number of the Beast", 1980)