Grace Hopper quotes

“A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.”

“Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, 'We've always done it this way.' I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise.”

“I am now going to make you a gift that will stay with you the rest of your life. For the rest of your life, every time you say, "We've always done it that way," my ghost will appear and haunt you for twenty-four hours.”

“I'm totally against women in combat, because we live in a culture and a society that imposes on every man the concept of women and children first... If you had a man and a woman trying to go through some dangerous woods, the man's instinct would be to protect the woman. Therefore you weaken the man.
”

“I've always been more interested in the future than in the past.”

“If one ox could not do the job they did not try to grow a bigger ox, but used two oxen. When we need greater computer power, the answer is not to get a bigger computer, but to build systems of computers and operate them in parallel.”

“If you do something once, people will call it an accident. If you do it twice, they call it a coincidence. But do it a third time and you've just proven a natural law!”

“It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.”

“Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down.
Respect for one's superiors; care for one's crew.”

“No computer is ever going to ask a new, reasonable question. It takes trained people to do that.”

“One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.”

“The glass is neither half empty nor half full. It's simply larger than it needs to be.”

“The most damaging phrase in the language is: 'It's always been done that way.'”

“The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.' I always tell young people, 'Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'”

“To me programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge.”