Software Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old software quotes, software sayings, and software proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

When we started off we didn't know how to spell software. Steve Jobs
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. Fred Brooks
Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is Latin for “still doesn't work. Anonymous
The human mind is an open network of complex softwares working together. Sukant Ratnakar
Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering. Bill Gates
Trying to improve software quality by increasing the amount of testing is like trying to lose weight by weighing yourself more often. What you eat before you step onto the scale determines how much you will weigh, and the software-development techniques you use determine how many errors testing will find. Steve McConnell
In softwawre systems, it is often the early bird that makes the worm. Alan Kay
Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn. Steve Jobs
One man's crappy software is another man's full time job. Jessica Gaston
Software is the magic thing whose importance only goes up over time. Bill Gates
A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good. Anonymous
The function of good software is to make the complex appear to be simple. Grady Booch
Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen. Edward V Berard
Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline. Margaret H. Hamilton
Good software, like wine, takes time. Joel Spolsky
Software is a gas; It expands to fill its container. Nathan Myhrvold
Successful software always gets changed. Fred Brooks
In short, software is eating the world. Marc Andreessen
With software there are only two possibilites: either the users control the programme or the programme controls the users. If the programme controls the users, and the developer controls the programme, then the programme is an instrument of unjust power. Richard M. Stallman
In software, we rarely have meaningful requirements. Even if we do, the only measure of success that matters is whether our solution solves the customer's shifting idea of what their problem is. Jeff Atwood
The purpose of software is to help people. Max Kanat-Alexander
Every successful hardware has a software behind. Thiru Voonna
Software is becoming no different than a videotape or a record album or a paperback book, and not all of us are ready for that change. Kevin O'Leary
If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in. Edsger Dijkstra
Software comes from heaven when you have good hardware. Ken Olsen
As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications. David Parnas
It is not enough for code to work. Robert C. Martin
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works. Alan Perlis
Software is usually accompanied by documentation in the form of big fat scary manuals that nobody ever reads. In fact, for the past five years most of the manuals shipped with software products have actually been copies of Stephen King's The Stand with new covers pasted on. Dave Barry
The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same. Bill Gates