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I have an ego the size of a small planet.
Linus Torvalds
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote humorously exaggerates the speaker's self-importance or pride.

Linus Torvalds uses hyperbole to convey a playful acknowledgment of his own ego, suggesting that it is vast and expansive, much like a small planet. This self-deprecating humor invites listeners to consider the balance between confidence and humility, poking fun at the notion of having an inflated sense of self-importance.

Themes

EgoHumorPrideSelf-ImportanceExaggeration

In practice

Example use cases

To lightheartedly describe a colleague's overconfidence in a team meeting.

More from Linus Torvalds

Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.
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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.
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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.
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Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.
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Most of the good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.
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I've felt strongly that the advantage of Linux is that it doesn't have a niche or any special market, but that different individuals and companies end up pushing it in the direction they want, and as such you end up with something that is pretty balanced across the board.
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