A colleague of mine was reading a C++ book and pointed out this quote to
me.  My apologies if it's been mentioned here before:

     Compilers are supposed to translate C++ into an
     executable format, not act as your personal safety
     net.  You want that kind of safety?  Program in Ada.

     -- Scott Meyers, Effective C++, Second Edition: 50 Specific
         Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs.  Addison Wesley,
         1998, p. 224

My colleague's best guess is that this genuinely WAS meant as a compliment
to Ada, i.e., that despite the author's description of what a compiler is
"supposed to" do, he really does value the safety net that strong
compile-time checks provide.

-- Norman Cohen