Linus Torvalds Quotes

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

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

~ Linus Torvalds

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

~ Linus Torvalds

I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.

~ 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

My name is Linus, and I am your God.

~ Linus Torvalds

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

~ Linus Torvalds

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

Hey, I'm a good software engineer, but I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. White socks and sandals don't translate to 'good design sense'.

~ Linus Torvalds

By staying neutral, I end up being somebody that everybody can trust. Even if they don't always agree with my decisions, they know I'm not working against them.

~ 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

To be honest, the fact that people trust you gives you a lot of power over people. Having another person's trust is more powerful than all other management techniques put together.

~ Linus Torvalds

I'm sitting in my home office wearing a bathrobe. The same way I'm not going to start wearing ties, I'm also not going to buy into the fake politeness, the lying, the office politics and backstabbing, the passive aggressiveness, and the buzzwords.

~ Linus Torvalds

The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.

~ Linus Torvalds

Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.

~ Linus Torvalds

I'm interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire.'

~ Linus Torvalds