The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Trade-offs
The price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity.
Tony Hoare The Emperor’s Old Clothes · 1981

Quotes

“Remember too that your time is your one finite resource, and when you say yes to one thing you are inevitably saying no to another.”

Andrew S. Grove · High Output Management, 1983 · Primary source

“The absolute balance of Give and Take, the doctrine that every thing has its price—and if that price is not paid, not that thing but something else is obtained, and that it is impossible to get any thing without its price—is not less sublime in the columns of a ledger than in the budgets of states.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Compensation, 1841 · Primary source

“Remember that by saying yes—to projects, a course of action, or whatever—you are implicitiy saying no to something else. Each time you make a commitment, you forfeit your chance to commit to something else.”

Andrew S. Grove · High Output Management, 1983 · Primary source

“The President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Compensation, 1841 · Primary source

“Every thing has two sides, a good and an evil. Every advantage has its tax.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Compensation, 1841 · Primary source

“Good ideas don’t often scale.”

Alan Kay · Alan Kay’s talk at Creative Think seminar, 1982 · Secondary source

Related Tags

Simplicity 35 Decision-making 35 Commitment 17 Ambition 17 Complexity 15 Reliability 12 Power 11 Reciprocity 11 Focus 10 Time management 8 Prioritisation 6 Resource allocation 6 Compensation 6 Software design 5 Balance 4 Opportunity cost 3 Systems design 2 Implementation 2 Presidency 1 Peace of mind 1 Exchange 1 Cost 1 Costs 1 Advantages 1 Scalability 1