PerryLorier's prefered and highly recommended way of choosing passwords:

< /dev/urandom tr -cd '[:print:]' | head -c 20 # every time you waste a cat, god kills a kitten

His new password is _]}e9pgU5-u6_hr[KF|*.

AristotlePagaltzis prefers slightly less cryptic passwords that are longer instead, which results in

#!/bin/sh
< /dev/urandom tr -cd '[:alnum:]$!@_:=-' | head -c "${1:-32}"
echo

Another popular method is to take the first letter of each word in a line from a song (eg I want to ride my bicycle -> iw2rmb)

If none of these methods are to your liking, you can always set your password to gandalf. This is highly original, and noone is likely to think of it.

You might find more information on the SecurityNotes page.

CategorySecurity