The best thing software can be is easy, but the way to do this is to get the defaults right, not to limit users' choices.
Paul GrahamSoftware has to be designed by hackers who understand design, not designers who know a little about software. If you can't design software as well as implement it, don't start a startup.
Paul GrahamThe world seemed cruel and boring, and I'm not sure which was worse.
Paul GrahamWhile the nerds were being trained to get the right answers, the popular kids were being trained to please.
Paul GrahamIf you leave a bunch of eleven-year-olds to their own devices, what you get is Lord of the Flies.
Paul GrahamThe other thing that's different about the real world [compared to high school] is that it's much larger. In a large enough pool, even the smallest minorities can achieve a critical mass if they clump together.
Paul GrahamNerds aren't losers. They're just playing a different game, and a game much closer to the one played in the real world.
Paul GrahamA programming language is for thinking of programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of.
Paul GrahamWhen those far removed from the creation of wealth -- undergraduates, reporters, politicians -- hear that the richest 5% of the people have half the total wealth, they tend to think injustice! An experienced programmer would be more likely to think is that all? The top 5% of programmers probably write 99% of the good software.
Paul GrahamI've seen occasional articles about how to manage programmers. Really there should be two articles: one about what to do if you are yourself a programmer, and one about what to do if you're not. And the second could probably be condensed into two words: give up.
Paul GrahamThere's no switch inside you [high school students] that magically flips when you turn a certain age or graduate from some institution. You start being an adult when you decide to take responsibility for your life. You can do that at any age.
Paul GrahamIt's not so important what you [high school students] work on, so long as you're not wasting your time. Work on things that interest you and increase your options, and worry later about which you'll take.
Paul GrahamThe world changes fast, and the rate at which it changes is itself speeding up. In such a world it's not a good idea to have fixed plans.
Paul GrahamGoogle never did any advertising. They're like dealers; they sell the stuff, but they know better than to use it themselves.
Paul GrahamCompetitors punch you in the jaw, but investors have you by the balls.
Paul GrahamConsulting is where product companies go to die.
Paul GrahamIf you work on something you can finish in a day or two, you can expect to have a nice feeling of accomplishment fairly soon. If the reward is indefinitely far in the future, it seems less real.
Paul GrahamAnother reason people don't work on big projects is, ironically, fear of wasting time. What if they fail? Then all the time they spent on it will be wasted. (In fact it probably won't be, because work on hard projects almost always leads somewhere.)
Paul GrahamI think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you.
Paul GrahamThe first type of judgement is the type where judging you is the end goal... But in fact there is a second much larger class of judgements where judging you is only a means to something else.
Paul GrahamThe more you realize that most judgements are greatly influenced by random, extraneous factors that most people judging you are more like a fickle novel buyer than a wise and perceptive magistrate the more you realize you can do things to influence the outcome.
Paul GrahamSomeone trying to live well would seem eccentrically abstemious in most of the US. That phenomenon is only going to become more pronounced. You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly.
Paul GrahamIf you'd asked me as a kid how rich people became poor, I'd have said by spending all their money. That's how it happens in books and movies, because that's the colorful way to do it. But in fact the way most fortunes are lost is not through excessive expenditure, but through bad investments.
Paul Graham