Leslie Lamport

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A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn't even know existed can render your own computer unusable.
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Failure
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Thinking doesn't guarantee that we won't make mistakes. But not thinking guarantees that we will.
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Mistake
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There is a race between the increasing complexity of the systems we build and our ability to develop intellectual tools for understanding their complexity. If the race is won by our tools, then systems will eventually become easier to use and more reliable. If not, they will continue to become harder to use and less reliable for all but a relatively small set of common tasks. Given how hard thinking is, if those intellectual tools are to succeed, they will have to substitute calculation for thought.
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Learning
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Thinking is not the ability to manipulate language; it’s the ability to manipulate concepts.
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Thinking
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When I write a paper, I change my notation much more than I change my concepts.
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Writing
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Formatting is no substitute for writing.
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Writing
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"Sometimes" is sometimes "not never".
- Leslie Lamport
Collection: Sometimes