Data dominates

A quote from Rob Pike, I think I'll make it my favorite:

Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming.

It's rule 5 on
this page (which in turn came from Ivan Lazarte's comment on the wiki ).

Second place, by Ken Thompson, from the same page:

When in doubt, use brute force.

Could be a mantra for Vlerq, that one!