Hal Abelson Quotes
Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.
Quotes to Explore
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Science attempts to analyze how things and people and animals behave; it has no concern whether this behavior is good or bad, is purposeful or not. But religion is precisely the quest for such answers: whether an act is right or wrong, good or bad, and why.
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In many parts of the world, more people have access to a mobile device than to a toilet or running water.
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I don't believe in God personally but I have great respect for those people who do and different people have different religious views in this country.
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Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world, it's the only thing that ever has.
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The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.
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Eliza Factor's first novel, 'The Mercury Fountain,' explores what happens when a life driven by ideology confronts implacable truths of science and human nature. It also shows how leaders can inflict damage by neglecting the real needs of real people.
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Perhaps gaining power doesn't cause people to act like takers. It simply creates the opportunity for people who think like takers to express themselves.
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People only see what they are prepared to see.
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Capitalism offers you freedom, but far from giving people freedom, it enslaves them.
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I do things, and other people laugh at them. I rarely know what the joke is supposed to be or why they're laughing.
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I'm fascinated by the capacity to be able to do harm. I struggle every day with the ability of people to do evil. Not just the big things - the petty things that people do in order to make someone feel small, when it's so easy to do, and it hurts so much.
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After all, life hasn't much to offer except youth, and I suppose for older people, the love of youth in others.
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I think that God prepared me for Chris's death in some ways, because I've seen other people lose their spouses. I've known for a long time that life isn't fair.
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The sea speaks a language polite people never repeat. It is a colossal scavenger slang and has no respect.
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A lot of people put pressure on me, but I don't think I feel that type of pressure. It is more of a good thing that people are trying to do that.
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Those few people who do respond to the dire conditions of the future - journalists, environmentalists, behavioral scientists - tend not to be powerful.
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The government of Iran has no problem with the American nation.
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I have enjoyed every call. The ones involving direct contact with people have been most rewarding.
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The state of New Jersey is really two places - terrible cities and wonderful suburbs. I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves. It's very romantic in that way, but a bit naive. I like to play with that in my work.
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I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.
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'The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages. As a precaution to ever committing major acts of evil it is our solemn duty never to do what we're told, this is the only way we can be sure.'
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Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.
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I'm a person of the arts. I love the arts very, very, very much. And ah, I'm a musician, I'm a director, I'm a writer, I'm a composer, I'm a producer, and I love the medium. I love film very, very much. I think it's the most expressive of all of the art mediums.
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Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.
