Quotes from The Wizardry Compiled and The Wizardry Cursed by Rick Cook

You can always tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes. --programmers' axiom

Everything always takes twice as long and costs four time as much as you planned. --programmer's axiom

It's never the technical stuff that gets you in trouble. It's the personalities and the politics. --programmers' saying

Those who can't do, teach. --article of faith among students

And vice-versa. --programmer's addendum to students' article of faith

Living with a programmer is easy. Alll you need is the patience of a saint. --programmers' wives' saying

Applications programming is a race between software engineers, who strive to produce idiot-proof programs, and the Universe which strives to produce bigger idiots. --software engineers' saying

So far the Universe is winning. --applications programmers' saying

The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware type with a program patch and a user with an idea. --computer saying

You can't do just one thing. --Campbell's Law of everything

Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. --Murphy's law #1024

and sometimes the real trick is telling the difference. --Murphy's law #1024a

Whenever you use a jump, be sure of your destination address. --programmer's saying

Always secure your files. You never know who's lurking about. --programmer's saying

Never argue with a red-haired witch. It wastes your breath and only delays the inevitable. --the collected sayings of Wiz Zumwalt

If you eat a live toad first thing in the morning, nothing worse will happen all day long. --California saying

To you or the toad. --Niven's restatement of California saying

--well, most of the time, anyway. . . --programmer's caveat to Niven's restatement of California saying

You never find out the whole story until after you've signed the contract. --programmer's saying

A jump gone awry is one of the hardest bus to locate. --programmers' saying

You can't unscramble an egg. --old saying

You can if you're powerful enough. --the collected sayings of Wiz Zumwalt

Magic is real--unless declared integer. --from the collected sayings of Wiz Zumwalt

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. --Clarke's law

Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. --Murphy's reformulation of Clarke's law

Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a rigged demonstration. --programmer's restatement of Murphy's reformulation of Clarke

Putting twice as many programmers on a project that is late will make it twice as late. --Brooks' law of programming projects

Never give a sucker an even break. --W. C. Fields

Especially not if he's a big, mean sucker. --the collected sayings of Wiz Zumwalt

Sleep? Isn't that a completely inadequate substitute for caffeine? --programmers' saying

Good client relations are the key to a successful project. --consultants' saying

At some point in the project you're going to have to break down and finally define the problem. --programmer's saying

Customer support is an art, not a science. --marketing saying

So are most other forms of torture. --programmers' response

Programming is like pinball. The reward for doing it well is the opportunity to do it again. --programmer's saying

Beware of open-ended contracts. They are hell to support. --programmers' saying

The problem with a kludge is eventually you're going to have to go back and do it right. --programmers' saying

Good help is so hard to find nowadays. --personnel manager's lament

" Getting there is half the fun." --Wrong-way Corrigan

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. --Old Arab proverb

So with friends like these, who needs enemies? --Old Jewish proverb

" Not only is the universe stranger than you imagine, it is stranger than you can imagine." --J. B. S. Haldane

" And so are other universe." --Wiz Zumwalt

" Do not worry, love," she said softly," The spells are simple and foolproof as we can make them. What was your phrase?--'Idiots-and-English majors' simple.'" --Moira

" Maybe pigs will grow wings," Danny said, eyeing the rubble. " Around this place you never know," Wiz said as he cast the first stone.

" It's the details," Jerry said to no one in particular. " It's always the details that get you into trouble."

" You have forgotten me already. I am disappointed Sparrow." -Lisella " Ah, not exactly." I never forget someone who's tried to kill me. The elf looked amused at his discomfort. --Wiz Zumwalt

" And by the Law of Similarity, like things affect each other." --Wiz Zumwalt

" Feeping creaturism," Jerry said. " What kind of creature?" Moira asked. " A feeping one," Danny explained. " 'That's one that has one too feeping many . . " " What it means is that I've added features just to add features," Wiz interrupted. " It's a spoonerism on creeping featurism."