According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALGOL, a quote often attributed to Dijkstra, but actually written about Algol by C. A. R. Hoare in 1973: "Here is a language so far ahead of its time that it was not only an improvement on its predecessors but also on nearly all its successors."

A more funny, unabridged version of this interview: http://www.cbi.umn.edu/oh/pdf.phtml?id=296

He's obviously made significant contributions, but I find his distain for industry off-putting. I wish we could separate computer science into theoretical v. applied research to clear up differences in the way the topic is approached.