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software-quotes

60 Software testing quotes to inspire you

Exploring software testing quotes from industry leaders and experts can inspire and motivate professionals to continuously improve their skills and approach. These quotes can also serve as a reminder of the importance of testing in software development. By absorbing the wisdom and perspectives from them, professionals can deepen their comprehension of the testing process. This, in turn, can elevate their performance, guiding them toward delivering software products of superior quality.

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Wisdom in testing

These quotes get at what software testing is actually for — and where its limits sit.

  1. "A good tester prevents problems; a great tester finds them." Keith Klain, Director of Quality Engineering at KPMG UK
  2. "In software testing, the earlier a bug is found, the cheaper it is to fix." Karen N. Johnson, independent software test consultant
  3. "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort." John Ruskin, English writer, philosopher, and art critic
  4. "Testing is not responsible for creating quality; only for assessing it." Daniel J. Galin, Head of Information Systems Studies, the Ruppin Academic Center
  5. "Testing is a skill. While this statement is obvious, it is profound in its implications." Bret Pettichord, Software Architect, Author, Open Source Contributor
  6. "The job of testing is not to find bugs but to find features that don't meet the user's needs." Michael Bolton, consulting software tester and testing teacher
  7. "The goal of a tester is to stop the software from shipping, not to find bugs." Michael Stahl, SW Validation Architect at Intel
  8. "The art of software testing is to ensure that no bugs make it to production." Anonymous
  9. "Testing can show the presence of bugs but never their absence." Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist, programmer, and software engineer
  10. "Testing is a skill that you can learn. It's more a mindset than a specific process." Janet Gregory, co-founder of the Agile Testing Fellowship

Importance of software testing quotes

Why testing earns its place in the development process, in the words of people who have argued the case professionally.

  1. "Testing is an infinite process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous in order to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous." James Bach, American software tester, author, trainer, and consultant
  2. "If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in." Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist, programmer, and software engineer
  3. "Software is a great combination of artistry and engineering." Bill Gates, American businessman and co-founder of Microsoft
  4. "The only way to do great work is to love what you do." Steve Jobs, American businessman and co-founder of Apple Inc.
  5. "Good software testing is a challenging intellectual process." Cem Kaner, professor of software engineering at Florida Institute of Technology and Director of Florida Tech's Center for Software Testing Education & Research
  6. "Software developers are always testing as they build. Testers are always building as they test." Michael Bolton, consulting software tester and testing teacher
  7. "Testing is a critical part of software development. Without testing, the software is likely to have defects." John Tukey, American mathematician and statistician
  8. "Testing is a process that calls for repeatability, consistency, and attention to detail." Dave Kelly, CEO of 2iTesting
  9. "Testing is not about finding all the bugs and defects. It's about finding the critical ones that matter." Anonymous

Challenges in testing

On the awkward realities of the job — including that good testing is mostly invisible until it stops happening.

  1. "Testing is like cleaning. It's only visible when you don't do it." Anonymous
  2. "Testing is the process of evaluating a product by learning about it through exploration and experimentation." Michael Bolton, consulting software tester and testing teacher
  3. "Testing is the only job where you can be happy for having your work rejected." Anonymous
  4. "Testing is not about making things go wrong; it's about finding out what could go wrong." Anonymous
  5. "Testing is not about breaking software; it's about breaking illusions about the software." Anonymous
  6. "Testing is not about proving something right but discovering where things go wrong." Michael Bolton, consulting software tester and testing teacher
  7. "Testing is a process that should convince us that our software works, not just confirm that it doesn't." Jeff Patton, founder of Jeff Patton & Associates

Importance of automated testing

On what automated testing buys you, and what it doesn't. See also our guide to automation best practices.

  1. "The purpose of automated testing is to reduce the risk of failure of your application." Frank DeGeorge, Chief Technology Officer for Impact Networking
  2. "Automation is good, so long as you know exactly where to put the machine." Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Israeli business management guru
  3. "If you don't automate your testing process, you're driving your car with your eyes closed." Gwen Stewart, IT sector for L&G, Expedia, Microsoft, Amazon, and the BBC
  4. "Automated testing is crucial for software quality." Julian Harty, senior test engineer at Google
  5. "With automation tools, you can take the time to refine your tests and make them less brittle." Martin Fowler, British software developer and author
  6. "The secret to scalable automation is making sure you’re testing the right thing at a high level." Lisa Crispin, co-founder of the Agile Testing Fellowship
  7. "Automating tests is like investing in a reliable credit score. Manual testing is like investing in a lucky rabbit’s foot." Brett Speckman, American Software Engineer and Project Manager
  8. "Automation is a bit like a cheat code for software testing; using this hack, you can practice agile testing without having to do it all manually." Torbjorn Gyllebring, CTO at Hubert
  9. "Test automation isn't automatic; it requires a lot more thought and design than just recording