Do you want to be glibly? Do want to get quick-witted?

aphorisms as pdf document

Sometimes I require clever replies. I wish I had access to good truisms. But instead of such an opportunity I have a problem: if I need witty sentences I can't find any. Therefore - a few months ago - I planned to jot down such good phrases. And now I am really going to practice and prepare myself for such critical situations, where quick-wittedness could save my life:

  • Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand. [Fowler: Refactoring p.15]
  • Be part of the solution, not (part of) the problem. [innominate]
  • Being advice resistant means pouring money down a rat hole. [innominate]
  • Better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion. [innominate]
  • Better to serve flatly and win highly than to jump longly and miss the take-off board. [innominate]
  • Better to strengthen the strength than to weaken the weakness. [Jon Christoph Berndt]
  • Complex is not complicated. [Rami Schwartz, olive, DA 2010-09-15]
  • Don't clear out the forest land, but cut out a swatheBlow a breach. [Küstenmaker: simplify your life p.55]
  • Don’t ever wrestle with a pig. You’ll both get dirty, but the pig will enjoy it. [Daniel Bartl]
  • Don't fight, abash.  [innominate]
  • Don't ask what others are thinking about you, ask, what you are thinking about others! [innominate]
  • Good ideas never leave us in peace. But not everything that haunts us permanently is a good idea. [innominate]
  • If it needs 30 sec do it immediately. [Küstenmaker: simplify your life p.183]
  • If you don't haven any reason for doing it you have at least one reason not to do it. [_sub_rosa]
  • Nobody has a bad style but many have no style. [Lichtenberg: Sudelbücher I S. 332 = Booklet D, 645]
  • Not anyone who did what he could could do what he did. [innominate, transported by Michael Unseld]
  • Not each possible thing should be executed. But every executed thing should be possible. [innominate]
  • The race is long: to finish first, first you must finish. [Garth Stein: The Art of Racing in the Rain]
  • The truth must be feminine because she is so often drawn on by her hair. [probably also by Lichtenberg]
  • The worm has to taste the fish - not the angler. [... has probably many sources ...]