WIST Quotations

Teller, Edward -- “Atom Alphabet,” Alamogordo Daily News (14 Nov 1957)

Dave — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:15:14 +0000

A stands for atom; it is so small
No one has ever seen it at all.

B stands for bombs; the bombs are much bigger.
So, brother, do not be too fast on the trigger.

F stands for fission; that is what things do
When they get wobbly and big and must split in two.
And just to confound the atomic confusion
What fission has done may be undone by fusion.

H has become a most ominous letter;
It means something bigger, if not something better.

S stands for secret; you can keep it forever —
Provided there’s no one abroad who is clever.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
“Atom Alphabet,” Alamogordo Daily News (14 Nov 1957)
(Source)

Attributed to Teller, as composed for his children. More discussion and sources: Edward Teller's "Atom Alphabet" (<=1946) : unsong.

Teller, Edward -- “Fallout and Disarmament: A Debate Between Linus Pauling and Edward Teller,” KQED-TV, San Francisco (20 Feb 1958)

Dave — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 13:50:59 +0000

If we stay strong, then I believe we can stabilize the world and have peace based on force. Now, peace based on force is not as good as peace based on agreement, but in the terrible world in which we live, in the world where the Russians have enslaved many millions of human beings, in the world where they have killed men, I think that for the time being the only peace we can have is the peace based on force.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
“Fallout and Disarmament: A Debate Between Linus Pauling and Edward Teller,” KQED-TV, San Francisco (20 Feb 1958)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- “Fallout and Disarmament: A Debate Between Linus Pauling and Edward Teller,” KQED-TV, San Francisco (20 Feb 1958)

Dave — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:09:21 +0000

I don’t want to kill anybody. I am passionately opposed to killing, but I’m even more passionately fond of freedom.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
“Fallout and Disarmament: A Debate Between Linus Pauling and Edward Teller,” KQED-TV, San Francisco (20 Feb 1958)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:12:09 +0000

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 (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
(Attributed)

Quoted in István Hargittai, The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century (2006), via Judith Shoolery.

Teller, Edward -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 17:31:51 +0000

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 (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
(Attributed)
(Source)

Attributed in a personal communication from Judith Shoolery, in Istvan Hargittai, The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century (2006).

Teller, Edward -- Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics, ch. 10 (1991) [with Wendy Teller and Wilson Talley]

Dave — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 16:47:00 +0000

Physics is, hopefully, simple. Physicists are not.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics, ch. 10 (1991) [with Wendy Teller and Wilson Talley]
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics, ch. 5 (1991) [with Wendy Teller, Wilson Talley]

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:30:57 +0000

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.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics, ch. 5 (1991) [with Wendy Teller, Wilson Talley]
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- Memoirs, ch. 5 (2002)

Dave — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 18:15:58 +0000

The idea of God that I absorbed was that it would be wonderful if He existed: We needed Him desperately but had not seen Him in many thousands of years.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
Memoirs, ch. 5 (2002)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- The Pursuit of Simplicity (1980)

Dave — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 15:32:18 +0000

Good news goes unnoticed. This is a well-known property of the press in the free world. Improvements are never dramatic. Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is clearly visible.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
The Pursuit of Simplicity (1980)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- In Phillip Berman, The Courage of Conviction (1985)

Dave — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 16:43:46 +0000

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

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
In Phillip Berman, The Courage of Conviction (1985)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- Interview (1994)

Dave — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 16:24:22 +0000

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

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
Interview (1994)

Recalling the debate over the development of the hydrogen bomb. Quoted in Roger Shattuck, Forbidden Knowledge (1996).

Teller, Edward -- Quoted by Judith Shoolery, personal communication (2004)

Dave — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 15:30:34 +0000

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

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
Quoted by Judith Shoolery, personal communication (2004)
(Source)

Quoted in István Hargittai, The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century (2006).