Simon Willison’s Weblog

I am a huge fan of Richard Feyman’s famous quote:

“What I cannot create, I do not understand”

I think it’s brilliant, and it remains true across many fields (if you’re willing to be a little creative with the definition of ‘create’). It is to this principle that I believe I owe everything I’m truly good at. Some will tell you should avoid reinventing the wheel, but they’re wrong: you should build your own wheel, because it’ll teach you more about how they work than reading a thousand books on them ever will.

— Joshua Barretto, Writing Toy Software is a Joy