Edward Teller Quotes

37 Sourced Quotes

No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will prove simple in retrospect.

Edward Teller
On May 7, a few weeks after the accident at Three-Mile Island, I was in Washington. I was there to refute some of that propaganda that Ralph Nader, Jane Fonda and their kind are spewing to the news media in their attempt to frighten people away from nuclear power. I am 71 years old, and I was working 20 hours a day. The strain was too much. The next day, I suffered a heart attack. You might say that I was the only one whose health was affected by that reactor near Harrisburg. No, that would be wrong. It was not the reactor. It was Jane Fonda. Reactors are not dangerous.

Edward Teller
Science attempts to find logic and simplicity in nature. Mathematics attempts to establish order and simplicity in human thought.

Edward Teller
There's no system foolproof enough to defeat a sufficiently great fool.

Edward Teller
I don't want to kill anybody. I am passionately opposed to killing, but I'm even more passionately fond of freedom. The freedom of Dr. Pauling and of myself expressing our opinions freely on any subject, however broad, however far removed of our proper competence, but particularly, to be able to express our opinions in the fields we really know; this would not be possible in Russia.

Edward Teller
I believe in good. It is an ephemeral and elusive quality. It is the center of my beliefs, but it cannot be strengthened by talking about it.

Edward Teller
There is no case where ignorance should be preferred to knowledge — especially if the knowledge is terrible.

Edward Teller
When you fight for a desperate cause and have good reasons to fight, you usually win.

Edward Teller
Secrecy in science does not work. Withholding information does more damage to us than to our competitors.

Edward Teller
I believe in evil. It is the property of all those who are certain of truth. Despair and fanaticism are only differing manifestations of evil.

Edward Teller
When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.

Edward Teller
One may say that predictions are dangerous particularly for the future.

Edward Teller