Torvalds Quotes & Sayings

I can mostly laugh at myself and this whole mess called "Linux developers," which means that I get along with most people and most people get along with me. — Linus Torvalds

Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life. — Linus Torvalds

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

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. — Linus Torvalds

A lot of people still like Solaris, but I'm in active competition with them, and so I hope they die. — Linus Torvalds

I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing. — Linus Torvalds

On a purely technical side, I'm really very happy with how Linux gets used in a very wide set of different areas. It's important for development. — Linus Torvalds

A lot of people want to have market share numbers, lots of users, because that's how they view their self worth. For me, one of the most important things for Linux is having a big community that is actively testing new kernels; it's the only way to support the absolute insane amount of different hardware we deal with. — Linus Torvalds

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. — Linus Torvalds

In trying to understand the Linux phenomenon, then, we have to look not at a single innovator but to a sort of bizarre Trinity : Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, and Bill Gates. Take away any of these three and Linux would not exist. — Neal Stephenson

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

Developers have the attention spans of slightly moronic woodland creatures. — Linus Torvalds

One of the reasons that I really don't mind that people are selling Linux commercially is exactly because it does make me feel good that people use the product. — Linus Torvalds

C++ is in that inconvenient spot where it doesn't help make things simple enough to be truly usable for prototyping or simple GUI programming, and yet isn't the lean system programming language that C is that actively encourages you to use simple and direct constructs. — Linus Torvalds

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. — Linus Torvalds

And 1.1.81 is officially BugFree(tm), so if you receive any bug-reports on it, you know they are just evil lies. — Linus Torvalds

In science, the whole system builds on people looking at other people's results and building on top of them. In witchcraft, somebody had a small secret and guarded it - but never allowed others to really understand it and build on it. Traditional software is like witchcraft. In history, witchcraft just died out. The same will happen in software. When problems get serious enough, you can't have one person or one company guarding their secrets. You have to have everybody share in the knowledge. — Linus Torvalds

Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. — Linus Torvalds

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

On the internet nobody can hear you being subtle. — Linus Torvalds

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

So I would not be surprised if the globbing libraries, for example, will do NFD-mangling in order to glob "correctly", so even programs ported from real Unix might end up getting pathnames subtly changed into NFD as part of some hot library-on-library action with UTF hackery inside. — Linus Torvalds

To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect. — Linus Torvalds

Such a leader knows how to empower groups to self-organize. When it's done right, a governance structure by consensus naturally emerges, as happened both with Linux and Wikipedia. "What astonishes so many people is that the open source model actually works," Torvalds said. "People know who has been active and who they can trust, and it just happens. — Walter Isaacson

It just makes it even harder for people to even approach the (open source) side, when they then end up having to worry about public humiliation. — Linus Torvalds

I have an ego the size of a small planet — Linus Torvalds

I started Linux because I wanted to see it on the desktop ... I do hope that the desktop people would try to work together ... and work more on the technology than trying to make the login screen look really nice. — Linus Torvalds

Once you start thinking more about where you want to be than about making the best product, you're screwed. — Linus Torvalds

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

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

A consumer doesn't take anything away: he doesn't actually consume anything. Giving the same thing to a thousand consumers is not really any more expensive than giving it to just one. — Linus Torvalds

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

There were open source projects and free software before Linux was there. Linux in many ways is one of the more visible and one of the bigger technical projects in this area, and it changed how people looked at it because Linux took both the practical and ideological approach. — Linus Torvalds

You won't get sued for anticompetitive behavior. — Linus Torvalds

If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. — Linus Torvalds

I've felt strongly that the advantage of Linux is that it doesn't have a niche or any special market, but that different individuals and companies end up pushing it in the direction they want, and as such you end up with something that is pretty balanced across the board. — Linus Torvalds

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

I am not a visionary. I'm an engineer. I'm happy with the people who are wandering around looking at the stars but I am looking at the ground and I want to fix the pothole before I fall in. — Linus Torvalds

When I do programming in my free time and for my own enjoyment, I really want to have a kind of protection: knowing that when I improve a program those improvements will continue to be available to me and others in future versions of the program. — Linus Torvalds

The fact is, there aren't just two sides to any issue, there's almost always a range of responses, and "it depends" is almost always the right answer in any big question. — Linus Torvalds

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

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

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

There's innovation in Linux. There are some really good technical features that I'm proud of. There are capabilities in Linux that aren't in other operating systems. — Linus Torvalds

I think Leopard is a much better system [than Windows Vista] ... but OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary. — Linus Torvalds

I made very sure that I did not get involved with any of the commercial Linux companies, exactly so that I would be neutral and not ever seen as "working for the competition". — Linus Torvalds

What commercialism has brought into Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out. — Linus Torvalds

I've tried it a couple of times over the years, mainly because the thing Ubuntu did so well was make Debian usable. I always felt that Debian was a pointless exercise because to me, the point of a distribution is to make everything easy. Easy to install, to be pretty and to be friendly and Ubuntu did that to Debian. — Linus Torvalds

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

If you have ever done any security work - and it did not involve the concept of "network of trust" - it wasn't security work, it was - masturbation. I don't know what you were doing. But trust me, it's the only way you can do security, it's the only way you can do development. — Linus Torvalds

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. — Linus Torvalds

In many ways, I am very happy about the whole Linux commercial market because the commercial market is doing all these things that I have absolutely zero interest in doing myself. — Linus Torvalds

In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved. — Linus Torvalds

The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies. — Linus Torvalds

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

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. — Linus Torvalds

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

When it comes to software, I much prefer free software, because I have very seldom seen a program that has worked well enough for my needs, and having sources available can be a life-saver. — Linus Torvalds

Don't ever make the mistake [of thinking] that you can design something better than what you get from ruthless massively parallel trial-and-error with a feedback cycle. That's giving your intelligence much too much credit. — Linus Torvalds

Nobody actually creates perfect code the first time around, except me. But there's only one of me. — Linus Torvalds

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

I am pragmatic. That which works, works, and theory can go screw itself. However, my pragmatism also extends to maintainability, which is why I also want it done well. — Linus Torvalds

Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer. — Linus Torvalds

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

If it is relevant there is always somebody else out there. — Linus Torvalds

Any program is only as good as it is useful. — Linus Torvalds

Talk is cheap. Show me the code. — Linus Torvalds

No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal. — Linus Torvalds

In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny. — Linus Torvalds

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

Giving the Linus Torvalds Award to the Free Software Foundation is a bit like giving the Han Solo Award to the Rebel Alliance. — Richard Stallman

I actually think that I'm a rather optimistic and happy person; it's just that I'm not a very positive person, if you see the difference. — Linus Torvalds

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

In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people. — Linus Torvalds

There are literally several levels of SCO being wrong. And even if we were to live in that alternate universe where SCO would be right, they'd still be wrong. — Linus Torvalds

Modern PCs are horrible. ACPI is a complete design disaster in every way. But we're kind of stuck with it. If any Intel people are listening to this and you had anything to do with ACPI, shoot yourself now, before you reproduce. — Linus Torvalds

I am not out to destroy Microsoft, that would be a completely unintended side effect. — Linus Torvalds

The cyberspace earnings I get from Linux come in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me, and that I can depend on in return. — Linus Torvalds

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. — Linus Torvalds

Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't remember the last time I couldn't walk around in shorts all day. — Linus Torvalds

The Linux kernel is under the GPL version 2. Not anything else. Some individual files are licensable under v3, but not the kernel in general. And quite frankly, I don't see that changing. I think it's insane to require people to make their private signing keys available, for example. I wouldn't do it. So I don't think the GPL v3 conversion is going to happen for the kernel, since I personally don't want to convert any of my code. You think v2 or later is the default. It's not. The _default_ is to not allow conversion. Conversion isn't going to happen. — Linus Torvalds

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

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

The economics of the security world are all horribly, horribly nasty and are largely based on fear, intimidation and blackmail. — Linus Torvalds

Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen an angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had. — Linus Torvalds

I'm simply too content doing what I want to do to really have a very negative attitude towards MicroSoft. They make bad products - so what? I don't need to care, because I happily don't have to use them, and writing my own alternative has been a very gratifying experience in many ways. — Linus Torvalds

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

I'm a huge believer in evolution (not in the sense that "it happened" - anybody who doesn't believe that is either uninformed or crazy, but in the sense "the processes of evolution are really fundamental, and should probably be at least thought about in pretty much any context"). — Linus Torvalds

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. — Linus Torvalds

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

Those that can, do. Those that can't, complain. — Linus Torvalds

I don't actually go to that many conferences. I do that a couple of times a year. Normally, I am not recognized; people don't throw their panties at me. I'm a perfectly normal person sitting in my den just doing my job. — Linus Torvalds

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

Right now some people are just running around in circles and claiming that moving things to the kernel automatically makes it more stable. I'm telling you that the kernel is stable not because it's a kernel, but because I refuse to listen to arguments like this. — Linus Torvalds

Real quality means making sure that people are proud of the code they write, that they're involved and taking it personally. — Linus Torvalds

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

Linux has definitely made a lot of sense even in a purely materialistic sense. — Linus Torvalds

Often your 'fixes' are actually removing capabilities that you had, because they were 'too confusing to the user'. GNOME seems to be developed by interface Nazis, where consistently the excuse for not doing something is not 'it's too complicated to do', but 'it would confuse users'. — Linus Torvalds

Once you realize that documentation should be laughed at, peed upon, put on fire, and just ridiculed in general, THEN, and only then, have you reached the level where you can safely read it and try to use it to actually implement a driver. — Linus Torvalds

C++ is a horrible language. It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it. — Linus Torvalds