Leslie Lamport Quotes

• A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn't even know existed can render your own computer unusable.

  Leslie Lamport

  Failure, Technology, Computer

  83 Copy quote

• Thinking doesn't guarantee that we won't make mistakes. But not thinking guarantees that we will.

  Leslie Lamport

  Mistake, Thinking, Guarantees That

  "Why We Should Build Software Like We Build Houses". www.wired.com. January 25, 2013.

  29 Copy quote

• There is a race between the increasing complexity of the systems we build and our ability to develop intellectual tools for understanding their complexity. If the race is won by our tools, then systems will eventually become easier to use and more reliable. If not, they will continue to become harder to use and less reliable for all but a relatively small set of common tasks. Given how hard thinking is, if those intellectual tools are to succeed, they will have to substitute calculation for thought.

  Leslie Lamport

  Learning, Thinking, Race

  22 Copy quote

• Thinking is not the ability to manipulate language; it’s the ability to manipulate concepts.

  Leslie Lamport

  Thinking, Language, Ability

  15 Copy quote

• When I write a paper, I change my notation much more than I change my concepts.

  Leslie Lamport

  Writing, Paper, Statistics

  15 Copy quote

• Formatting is no substitute for writing.

  Leslie Lamport

  Writing, Statistics, Substitutes

  14 Copy quote

• "Sometimes" is sometimes "not never".

  Leslie Lamport

  Sometimes

  9 Copy quote

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