Edward Teller Quotes

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.

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

When you're certain you cannot be fooled, you become easy to fool.

The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.

We must learn to live with contradictions, because they lead to deeper and more effective understanding.

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.

The extinction of the human race will come from its inability to EMOTIONALLY comprehend the exponential function.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy; the best weapon of a democracy is openness.

I hate doubt, yet I am certain that doubt is the only way to approach anything worth believing in.

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

Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is clearly visible.

I believe in excellence. It is a basic need of every human soul. All of us can be excellent, because, fortunately, we are exceedingly diverse in our ambitions and talents.

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.

Had we not pursued the hydrogen bomb, there is a very real threat that we would now all be speaking Russian. I have no regrets.

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

When Columbus took off, the purpose was to improve trade relations with China. That problem has not been solved to this very day, but just look at the by-products.

A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.

If there ever was a misnomer, it is "exact science." Science has always been full of mistakes. The present day is no exception. And our mistakes are good mistakes; they require a genius to correct. Of course, we do not see our own mistakes.

If anyone wants a hole in the ground, nuclear explosives can make big holes

The eyes of childhood are magnifying lenses.

Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction.

Two paradoxes are better than one they may even suggest a solution.

Physics is, hopefully, simple. Physicists are not.

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

There is a time for scientists and movie stars and those who have flown the atlantic to restrain their opinions lest they be taken more seriously than they should be.