While we are patenting every line of every software program ever written, we should also patent colors, smells, tastes, sounds, sensations, thoughts, individual words, photographs, individual syllables, and visual/body language gestures.
How come lines of code fall under the category of 'invention', But English sayings, phrases and quotes do not?
This is interesting because software is a composition in a computer language. So the OP has an interesting point there. Code and algorithms shouldn't be awarded patents just like you can't patent a musical composition.
Software itself isn't patentable -- software licenses work on the basis of the copyright on the source code, not a patent. Software patents generally describe algorithms rather than their specific implementations, just like ordinary patents describe a method of solving a problem.
How come lines of code fall under the category of 'invention', But English sayings, phrases and quotes do not?