GRACE HOPPER

I handed my passport to the immigration officer, and he looked at it and looked at me and said, 'What are you?'

If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It's much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.

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

It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

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

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!

You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership.

One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.

If it isn't bolted down, bring it home.

I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. They told me computers could only do arithmetic.

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.

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.'

We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question.

From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.

It's always easier to apologize for something you've already done than to get approval for it in advance.

Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be an entry which reads, "Information"; for in most cases, the information is more valuable than the hardware which processes it.

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.

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

Developing a compiler was a logical move; but in matters like this, you don't run against logic - you run against people who can't change their minds.

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

I need something to compare this to. Could I please have a microsecond?

We're flooding people with information. We need to feed it through a processor. A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge.

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

I've received many honors and I'm grateful for them; but I've already received the highest award I'll ever receive, and that has been the privilege and honor of serving very proudly in the United States Navy.