In fact, I think Linus's [= Linus Torvalds'] cleverest and most consequential hack was not the construction of the Linux kernel itself,

In fact, I think Linus's [= Linus Torvalds'] cleverest and most consequential
hack was not the construction of the Linux kernel itself, but rather his
invention of the Linux development model. When I expressed this
opinion in his presence once, he smiled and quietly repeated something
he has often said: "I'm basically a very lazy person who likes to get
credit for things other people actually do." Lazy like a fox. Or,
as Robert Heinlein famously wrote of one of his characters, too lazy
to fail.

Eric Raymond, the "Cathedral and the Bazaar"