Hacking Quotes

• Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

  Donald Knuth

  Science, Roots, Evil

  Donald Ervin Knuth (1986). “TEX: The Program”, Addison-Wesley Professional

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you don't catch them in the act, you're not going to catch them.

  Donald Trump

  Interesting, Ifs, Hacks

  "A Timeline of Trump’s Strange, Contradictory Statements on Russian Hacking" by Andy Greenberg, www.wired.com. January 4, 2017.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Playfully doing something difficult, whether useful or not, that is hacking.

  Richard Stallman

  Difficult

  "On Hacking". Personal Website, stallman.org.

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• If somebody's hacking you, you don't want them to know that you know.

  Nancy Pelosi

  Want, Knows, Ifs

  Interview With Glenn Thrush, www.politico.com. July 26, 2016.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't want anyone hacking us. And I'm not only talking about countries. I'm talking about anyone, period.

  Donald Trump

  Country, Talking, Want

  "Bipartisan Group of Senators Pushing for Investigation into Russian Hacking; Saying No To Cabinet Offer; Prioritizing White House as President; CNN Heroes 10th Annual All-star Tribute". "CNN Newsroom", www.cnn.com. December 11, 2016.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• You can do reverse engineering, but you can’t do reverse hacking.

  Francis Crick

  Engineering, Reverse, Can Do

  56 Copy quote

• Death is hacking away at my address book and party lists.

  Mason Cooley

  Friends, Death, Party

  6 Copy quote

• I was addicted to hacking, more for the intellectual challenge, the curiosity, the seduction of adventure; not for stealing, or causing damage or writing computer viruses.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Writing, Adventure, Challenges

  13 Copy quote

• My primary goal of hacking was the intellectual curiosity, the seduction of adventure.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Adventure, Goal, Intellectual

  "The “world’s most wanted hacker,” Kevin Mitnick, has gone straight (interview)". Interview with Dean Takahashi, venturebeat.com. October 21, 2011.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• All art is a form of hacking, it's a kind of breeching open of a closed system.

  Tommy McCarthy

  Art, Kind, Form

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• I could have evaded the FBI a lot longer if I had been able to control my passion for hacking.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Passion, Able, Fbi

  4 Copy quote

• This is our world now The world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud.

  Loyd Blankenship

  Our World, Hackers, Electrons

  10 Copy quote

• Despair leads to boredom, electronic games, computer hacking, poetry and other bad habits.

  Edward Abbey

  Games, Boredom, Despair

  4 Copy quote

• As a young boy, I was taught in high school that hacking was cool.

  Kevin Mitnick

  School, Boys, Taught

  "An Hour with Kevin Mitnick, Part 2". Interview with Vince Barnes, www.esecurityplanet.com. April 7, 2004.

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• I got so passionate about technology. Hacking to me was like a video game. It was about getting trophies. I just kept going on and on, despite all the trouble I was getting into, because I was hooked.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Technology, Games, Video

  63 Copy quote

• I'm still a hacker. I get paid for it now. I never received any monetary gain from the hacking I did before. The main difference in what I do now compared to what I did then is that I now do it with authorization.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Differences, Gains, Hackers

  Kevin Mitnick (2011). “Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker”, p.424, Hachette UK

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• If somebody's hacking you, you don't want them to know that you know. You want to find out what they're doing, how they're doing it, and then you'll let them know you know.

  Nancy Pelosi

  Want, Knows, Ifs

  Source: www.politico.com

  74 Copy quote

  Show source

• A lot of hacking is playing with other people, you know, getting them to do strange things.

  Steve Wozniak

  People, Strange, Economy

  Saturday keynote speech, The Fifth HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) Conference, July 10, 2004.

  30 Copy quote

  Show source

• Premature optimization is the root of all evil in programming.

  Tony Hoare

  Roots, Evil, Simplicity

  18 Copy quote

• There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Courage, Fall, Learning

  Walden ch. 1 (1854)

  110 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the hacking world, security is more of a response than a proactive measure. They wait for hackers to attack and then they patch, based on the attacks.

  Michael Demon Calce

  Waiting, World, Hackers

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Further, the next generation of terrorists will grow up in a digital world, with ever more powerful and easy-to-use hacking tools at their disposal.

  Dorothy E. Denning

  Growing Up, Powerful, Generations

  7 Copy quote

• Hackers are breaking the systems for profit. Before, it was about intellectual curiosity and pursuit of knowledge and thrill, and now hacking is big business.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Intellectual, Curiosity, Thrill

  "Kevin Mitnick, Former Fugitive Hacker, Laments How The Game Has Changed". Interview with Gerry Smith, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 16, 2011.

  54 Copy quote

  Show source

• The truth is revealed by removing things that stand in its light, an art not unlike sculpture, in which the artist creates, not by building, but by hacking away.

  Alan Watts

  Art, Light, Sculpture

  Alan Watts (1951). “The Wisdom of Insecurity”, Vintage

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's true, I had hacked into a lot of companies, and took copies of the source code to analyze it for security bugs. If I could locate security bugs, I could become better at hacking into their systems. It was all towards becoming a better hacker.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Bugs, Becoming, Hackers

  66 Copy quote