Tim Berners-Lee's Quotes

One of the things I like about the computer that I use is that I can write a program on it or I can download a program on to it and run it. That's kind of important to me, and that's also kind of important to the whole future of the internet... obviously a closed platform is a serious brake on innovation.

The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.

We could say we want the Web to reflect a vision of the world where everything is done democratically. To do that, we get computers to talk with each other in such a way as to promote that ideal.

Any enterprise CEO really ought to be able to ask a question that involves connecting data across the organization, be able to run a company effectively, and especially to be able to respond to unexpected events. Most organizations are missing this ability to connect all the data together.

I don't mind being, in the public context, referred to as the inventor of the World Wide Web. What I like is that image to be separate from private life, because celebrity damages private life.

I myself feel that it is very important that my ISP supplies internet to my house like the water company supplies water to my house. It supplies connectivity with no strings attached.

I should be able to pick which applications I use for managing my life, I should be able to pick which content I look at, and I should be able to pick which device I use, which company I use for supplying my internet, and I'd like those to be independent choices.

I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of cancer that that's not going to get to my insurance company and I'm going to find my insurance premium is going to go up by 5% because they've figured I'm looking at those books.

I'm not a fan of giving a website a simple number like an IQ rating because like people they can vary in all kinds of different ways. So I'd be interested in different organisations labelling websites in different ways.

I'm very aware there are lots of other people who are just bright and working just as hard, with just the same dedication to make the world a good place.

Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the person you are applying to for your first job. Imagine that it's all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and your grandchildren as well.

Intellectual property is an important legal and cultural issue. Society as a whole has complex issues to face here: private ownership vs. open source, and so on.

IT professionals have a responsibility to understand the use of standards and the importance of making Web applications that work with any kind of device.

My own personal preference is that the consumer, the individual person should be protected because individual people and the difference between individual people and the diversity we have between people on the planet is so important.

On the web the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a formula which is very believable.

One way to think about the magnitude of the changes to come is to think about how you went about your business before powerful Web search engines. You probably wouldn't have imagined that a world of answers would be available to you in under a second. The next set of advances will have an different effect, but similar in magnitude.

The challenge is to manage the Web in an open way-not too much bureaucracy, not subject to political or commercial pressures. The U.S. should demonstrate that it is prepared to share control with the world.

The Google algorithm was a significant development. I've had thank-you emails from people whose lives have been saved by information on a medical website or who have found the love of their life on a dating website.

The most important thing that was new was the idea of URI-or URL, that any piece of information anywhere should have an identifier, which will allow you to get hold of it.

The Semantic Web isn't inherently complex. The Semantic Web language, at its heart, is very, very simple. It's just about the relationships between things.

The world's urban poor and the illiterate are going to be increasingly disadvantaged and are in danger of being left behind. The web has added a new dimension to the gap between the first world and the developing world. We have to start talking about a human right to connect.

We shouldn't build a technology to colour, or grey out, what people say. The media in general is balanced, although there are a lot of issues to be addressed that the media rightly pick up on.

What is a Web year now, about three months? And when people can browse around, discover new things, and download them fast, when we all have agents - then Web years could slip by before human beings can notice.

Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.

You affect the world by what you browse.

Data is a precious thing and will last longer than the systems themselves.

The Mobile Web Initiative is important - information must be made seamlessly available on any device.

Physicists analyze systems. Web scientists, however, can create the systems.

When it comes to professionalism, it makes sense to talk about being professional in IT. Standards are vital so that IT professionals can provide systems that last.

Any good software engineer will tell you that a compiler and an interpreter are interchangeable.

Celebrity damages private life.

I think IT projects are about supporting social systems - about communications between people and machines. They tend to fail due to cultural issues.

We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.

Web users ultimately want to get at data quickly and easily. They don't care as much about attractive sites and pretty design.

Whatever the device you use for getting your information out, it should be the same information.

Customers need to be given control of their own data-not being tied into a certain manufacturer so that when there are problems they are always obliged to go back to them.

I don't know whether machine translation will eventually get good enough to allow us to browse people's websites in different languages so you can see how they live in different countries.

Compared even to the development of the phone or TV, the Web developed very quickly.

Everybody who runs a Web site knows we're not assured of compatibility, and we could end up with a split.

I basically wrote the code and the specs and documentation for how the client and server talked to each other.

I have built a moat around myself, along with ways over that moat so that people can ask questions.

I hope we will use the Net to cross barriers and connect cultures.

I suppose it's amazing when you think how many things people get involved in that don't work.

I think when you have a lot of jumbled up ideas they come together slowly over a period of several years.

I'm an optimist about humanity in general, I suppose.

If you are not on the web, you will have problems accessing services.

In many ways, people growing up with the Web and now the Semantic Web take the power at their fingertips for granted.

Innovation is serendipity, so you don't know what people will make.

My house is really clean. It's a really big house so I have three ladies who come in and clean it twice a week, but let's just say that, in between times, maybe it's not quite so clean.

Nikki lives around the corner from me and I see him all the time. We talk a lot, and of course we're still friends. That was our baby, Motley Crue, we put that band together.

No one really buys records anymore. You can look at sales and do that math real quick. Unfortunately, it's fast food in the music industry. People don't ingest full records anymore.

One day I would love to do rock a gig on the moon - how rad would that be? Isn't Richard Branson flying planes to outer space? Motley Crue could be the first band to play on the moon.

The Radiohead record, The Bends is my all-time favorite record on the planet.

You never know what's going to happen sometimes, or what you think's going to happen never happens, or when you least expect it, the Santana record comes along and just blows up.

A lot of hip-hop artists wear fur, and they think it's a status symbol. That doesn't register for me; I just see dead animals.

Aerosmith's 'Rocks' is on the list of my top favorite albums of all time.

I am such a gearhead. In my recording studio, I personally engineer and edit everything on computers.

I did the marching band all throughout junior high and high school. Music was one of my favorite things in school.

I don't have a problem with my temper.

I don't think anybody should ever touch anybody in anger, ever.

I'm really a cool, mellow guy. I'm not as crazy as everybody thinks.

It sounds kind of strange, but Jail time was almost a good experience for me.

It's always interesting to me that we all hear music differently. It's an awesome experience to hear what other people hear.

Single's fun - you don't have to check in with your girl, but it's not easy. I do get lonely.

Sometimes when you have children they're the opposites of you.

The best thing about being rich is the freedom; freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want. It doesn't suck.

The quad toms are a completely different animal than the standard drum set/trap kit. Playing wise and stylistically, they are two different beasts.

There's no new news.

When I'm single, I'm one guy, and when I'm in a relationship I'm totally another. They're both a good time.

Why is it that the hot chicks never can sing?

You know what's weird, I just write to write, with no intention, I just write.

At 17, I signed a recording contract right out of high school, so I started touring and traveling the world. I sort of missed out on the college experience.

Being married to two extremely high profile, you know, actresses, and being sort of chased by, you know, paparazzi and people, it's a whole different dynamic happens to a relationship when that happens. All of a sudden, things get a little crazy, a little crazy.

Getting married in four days was the biggest... mistake I've ever made. I have two beautiful kids, but... how can you know somebody in four days? Bonehead.

I don't listen to anybody's full record anymore and when I did, I don't think I listened to the whole record. I'm sorry, and I don't care who it is, if it's the Beatles, I can't listen to an hour and a half of anybody straight so I guess that's just my personal preference.

I've always loved the mixture of crushing live drums with a programmed groove, that really cool blend, like in the verse there's a really funky drum beat that is programmed then it comes in to the chorus; you've got that enormous human feel where the band kicks in.

My father lived by the philosophy, 'Be yourself, because everyone else is taken,' and he made sure I did, too. Whatever I wanted to do, he supported me. I don't mean that I was spoilt - he didn't believe in material gifts - but he watched my back while I worked to achieve things.