
If you start doing things because you hate others and want to screw them over, the end result is bad.

I think one thing I do pretty well is not taking myself too seriously.

My name is Linus, and I am your God.

I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues.

I'm basically a very lazy person who likes to get credit for things other people actually do.

I started Linux as a desktop operating system. And it's the only area where Linux hasn't completely taken over. That just annoys the hell out of me.

Developers have the attention spans of slightly moronic woodland creatures.

I think of myself as an engineer, not as a visionary or 'big thinker.' I don't have any lofty goals.

I've been employed by the University of Helsinki, and they've been perfectly happy to keep me employed and doing Linux.

I've been very happy with the commercial Linux CD-ROM vendors linux Red Hat.

With software, you really can replicate and do a lot of very real and active development in parallel, and actually try it out and see what works.

I don't see myself as a visionary at all.

Today, I will offer free web hosting and developpement helps for
projects under Sourceforge

Helsinki isn't all that bad. It's a very nice city, and it's cold really only in wintertime.

People will realize that software is not a product; you use it to build a product,

We all know Linux is great ... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds.

The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.

I want my office to be quiet. The loudest thing in the room - by far - should be the occasional purring of the cat.

A computer is like air conditioning - it becomes useless when you open Windows

Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.

Shareware tends to combine the worst of commercial software with the worst of free software.

Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

No problem is too big it can't be run away from

I have an ego the size of a small planet

Only religious fanatics and totalitarian states equate morality with legality.

I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.

Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it.

What I find most interesting is how people really have taken Linux and used it in ways and attributes and motivations that I never felt.

That's what makes Linux so good: you put in something, and that effort multiplies. It's a positive feedback cycle.

Personally, I'm not interested in making device drivers look like user-level. They aren't, they shouldn't be, and microkernels are just stupid.

I'm a technical manager, but I don't have to take care of people. I only have to worry about technology itself.

Finnish companies tend to be very traditional, not taking many risks. Silicon Valley is completely different: people here really live on the edge.

I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It's the right way to do things.

Quite frankly, even if the choice of C were to do *nothing* but keep the C++ programmers out, that in itself would be a huge reason to use C.

And what's the Internet without the rick-roll?

Don't hurry your code. Make sure it works well and is well designed. Don't worry about timing.

I think people can generally trust me, but they can trust me exactly because they know they don't have to.

Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.

I claim that Mach people (and apparently FreeBSD) are incompetent idiots.

I like to think that I've been a good manager. That fact has been very instrumental in making Linux a successful product.

Portability is for people who cannot write new programs

The NIH syndrome (Not Invented Here) is a disease.

I'm interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire.'

Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.

It was such a relief to program in user mode for a change. Not having to care about the small stuff is wonderful.

Me trying to make a business around Linux would have been a total disaster.

Only wimps use tape backup. REAL men just upload their important stuff on ftp and let the rest of the world mirror it.

The bulk of all patents are crap. Spending time reading them is stupid. It's up to the patent owner to do so, and to enforce them.

I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.

If you think penguins are fat and waddle, you have never been attacked by one running at you in excess of 100 miles per hour.

I love making friends ... it's people I can't stand.

I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.

If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.

You won't get sued for anticompetitive behavior.

Every time I see some piece of medical research saying that caffeine is good for you, I high-five myself. Because I'm going to live forever.

I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.

I may make jokes about Microsoft at times, but at the same time, I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease.

If you want to travel around the world and be invited to speak at a lot
of different places, just write a Unix operating system.

I don't think commercialization is the answer to anything. It's just one more facet of Linux, and not the deciding one by any means.

Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.

I see myself as a technical person who chose a great project and a great way of doing that project.

OK, I admit it. I was just a front-man for the real fathers of Linux, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.

The way to do good basic design isn't actually to be really smart about it, but to try to have a few basic concepts.