"Even perfect program verification can only establish that a program meets its specification. Much of the essence of building a program is in fact the debugging of the specification."

“The complexity of software is an essential property, not an accidental one. Hence, descriptions of a software entity that abstract away its complexity often abstracts away its essence.”

“How does a project get to be a year late? … One day at a time.”

“The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.”

“An ancient adage warns, "Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three.”

“A little retrospection shows that although many fine, useful software systems have been designed by committees and built as part of multipart projects, those software systems that have excited passionate fans are those that are the products of one or a few designing minds, great designers.”

“…the organization chart will initially reflect the first system design, which is almost surely not the right one as one learns, he changes the design . Management structures also need to be changed as the system changes…”