Alan Perlis Quotes

57: It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.

Alan Perlis

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• I just have that sense this is the reason we got Sandra Day O'Connor on the Court in the first place is because Ronald Reagan was running for President.

  

  Patricia Ireland
  • Running
  • Day
  • First

• When I was prepping for my Broadway debut as Romeo, it really hit me that I had never done that. I had trained at drama school for three years in my late teens to early 20s, and I'd studied Shakespeare, of course, but I hadn't actually performed it. So to do something like Romeo for my first Broadway role was a challenge.

  

  Orlando Bloom
  • Done
  • Role
  • Broadway

• It sounds trite to go after men who are nice but when you've been hurt a lot it becomes appealing.

  

  Salma Hayek
  • Men
  • You
  • Nice

• I suspect that many of the great cultural shifts that prepare the way for political change are largely aesthetic. A Buick radiator grille is as much a political statement as a Rolls Royce radiator grille, one enshrining a machine aesthetic driven by a populist optimism, the other enshrining a hierarchical and exclusive social order.

  

  J. G. Ballard
  • Great
  • Political
  • Change

• We think nothing of protecting consumers from faulty toasters or unsafe cars. Is it unreasonable to suggest that investors are entitled to information they can trust before investing their hard-earned money? I don't think it's unreasonable at all.

  

  Jackie Speier
  • Money
  • Trust
  • Information

• I was the youngest and on my own a lot. I think this probably taught me independence and how to be okay with my own company. Also, it meant I read a lot.

  

  Zoe Foster Blake
  • Think
  • Me
  • Company

• My great hope would be that Quebec would realize itself fully as a distinct part of Canada, and stay Canadian, bringing to Canada a part of its richness.

  

  Gabrielle Roy
  • Great
  • Hope
  • Realize

• I like somebody who's not so crazy but likes to have a good time... and who is thoughtful and kind and easy to laugh with. Somebody you can just be yourself with one hundred and fifty percent.

  

  Kate Bosworth
  • Time
  • Good
  • Crazy

• It was quite a shot in the head to do the album and then have it shot down by nonmusical idiots.

  

  Dan Fogelberg
  • Down
  • Head
  • Idiots

• They say making laws is like making sausages. You shouldn't watch. It's the same for acting, especially for the actor who works unconsciously.

  

  Ed Asner
  • Acting
  • Same
  • Laws

• Being first lady is the hardest unpaid job in the world.

  

  Pat Nixon
  • World
  • Job
  • First

• Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.

  

  C. Wright Mills
  • Life
  • History
  • Society

• The minute somebody joins a committee... they immediately suffer from committee brain. They become wildly over-enthusiastic, over-optimistic, over-pessimistic. Committees turn people into idiots, and politics is a committee.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • People
  • Brain
  • Politics

• An actor can change himself to fit a part, whereas a personality has to change the part to fit himself. The personality has to say it his own way.

  

  Dale Robertson
  • Change
  • Personality
  • Actor

• There can be a lot of mind games going on between the players. When you're about to serve, people will try to throw you off your rhythm by taking a walk. If you're tired, you can't show that at all to an opponent.

  

  Rajiv Ouseph
  • People
  • Mind
  • Tired

• 'Mvula' is my married name, but for some reason my nan calls me 'McVula.' I'm not sure if it's one of those jokey Caribbean things, or whether she's just getting it wrong.

  

  Laura Mvula
  • She
  • Me
  • Name

• Only in Washington does a decrease in the proposed increase equal a spending cut.

  

  Larry Elder
  • Equal
  • Only
  • Washington

• I think I've been fortunate to be at the top of the game and in the media for years, and a lot of times, people want to be your friend when you're on the top. You know, there have been times when I've been injured and I never got a phone call. So that's the way it is.

  

  Venus Williams
  • People
  • Think
  • Game

• Because of the way I'm built, I constantly have to strengthen. This is sort of a ritual: I put on my tights first, and right when I'm about to put on my costume, I get down on the floor, and I plank.

  

  David Hallberg

• The Pumpkins love rock-and-roll, we absolutely love it, but we also think it's a flatulent, ego-serving kiddie playground. You can have your cake and eat it too.

  

  Billy Corgan The Smashing Pumpkins
  • Rock
  • Ego

• That song didn't just happen. It grew out of my experiences. 'American Pie' was part of my process of self-awakening: a mystical trip into my past.

  

  Don McLean
  • American
  • Song
  • Past

• In my lifetime, I want to see humanity start being conscious of our waste, the things we buy, and how we can reuse and recycle things. I want people to live harmoniously with our planet. I hope everybody wakes up and appreciates life.

  

  Jason Mraz
  • People
  • Life
  • Up

• In the past, you would take the time to write a love letter and you would think about what you wanted to say and compose it in a certain way. Now, everything is so short. It has to be, because it is rushed, and therefore, in a way, it loses a little bit of its importance. But I think it is very important to take the time to say what you want to say.

  

  Haider Ackermann
  • Time
  • Important
  • Past

• 57: It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.

  

  Alan Perlis