Seymour Cray Quotations

As long as we can make them smaller, we can make them faster.

#3 pencils and quadrille pads.

Parity is for farmers.

I talk to myself through the computer. I ask myself questions, leave things to be looked at again, things that you would do with a notepad. It turns out today that it’s much better today to do with a personal computer rather than a notepad.

Thank heaven for startups; without them we'd never have any advances.

#3 pencils and quadrille pads.(when asked what CAD tools he used to design the Cray I supercomputer )

Farmers buy a lot of computers.

I just bought a Mac to help me design the next Cray.

One of my guiding principles is don't do anything that other people are doing. Always do something a little different if you can. The concept is that if you do it a little differently there is a greater potential for reward than if you the same thing that other people are doing. I think that this kind of goal for one's work, having obviously the maximum risk, would have the maximum reward no matter what the field may be.

I'm supposed to be a scientific person but I use intuition more than logic in making basic decisions.

Anyone can build a fast CPU. The trick is to build a fast system.

Interesting - I use a Mac to help me design the next Cray.(when he was told that Apple Inc. had recently bought a Cray supercomputer to help them design the next Mac )

The trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing until it's too late.

If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?