Edward Teller > Quotes

“When you get 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 how to fly.”
― Edward Teller

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

“Two paradoxes are better than one they may even suggest a solution. ”
― Edward Teller, The pursuit of simplicity

“Today's science is tomorrow's technology.”
― Edward Teller, The Legacy of Hiroshima

“The scientist is not responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job to find out how these laws operate. It is the scientist’s job to find the ways in which these laws can serve the human will. However, it is not the scientist’s job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb should be constructed, whether it should be used, or how it should be used. This responsibility rests with the American people and with their chosen representatives.”
― Edward Teller

“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

“Engineers are, by definition, people whose work is dedicated to making people's lives easier; or, as people used to say, whose work is dedicated to progress.”
― Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics

“When you get 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 how to fly.”
― Edward Teller

“When you get to the end of all 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 how to fly.”
― Edward Teller

“If to a poet a physicist may speak
Freely, as though we shared a common tongue,
For "peace in our time" I should hardly seek
By means that once proved wrong.
It seems the Muscovite
Has quite a healthy, growing appetite.
We can't be safe; at least we can be right.
Some bombs may help - perhaps a bomb-proof cellar,
But surely not the Chamberlain umbrella.
The atom is now big; the world is small.
Unfortunately, we have conquered space.
If war does come, it comes to all,
To every distant place.
Will people have the dash
That Britons had when their world seemed to crash
Before a small man with a small mustache?
You rhyme the atoms to amuse and charm us -
Your counsel should inspire, and not disarm us.

(Teller's reply to an anonymous British man's poem/message (that Americans are too belligerent), both in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).”
― Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics

“Today, nothing is unusual about a scientific discovery's being followed soon after by a technical application: The discovery of electrons led to electronics; fission led to nuclear energy. But before the 1880's, science played almost no role in the advances of technology. For example, James Watt developed the first efficient steam engine long before science established the equivalence between mechanical heat and energy.”
― 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

“Most people avoid thinking if they can, some of us are addicted to thinking, but Von Neumann actually enjoyed thinking, maybe even to the exclusion of everything else.”
― Edward Teller

“Science attempts to find logic and simplicity in nature. Mathematics attempts to establish order and simplicity in human thought.”
― Edward Teller, The pursuit of simplicity

“Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction.”
― Edward Teller

“The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.”
― Edward Teller

“Nationalism has little to contribute today except further suffering.”
― Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics

“The scientist is not responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job to find out how these laws operate...Hydrogen bombs will not produce themselves.”
― Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics

“Towards the end of World War II, Theodore von Karman had developed a liquid propellant research rocket at Cal Tech, which he named the Corporal...During the test in which a modified version of the Corporal had reached 80,000 feet, a general who was also observing the test asked von Karman how much higher the Corporal could go. Von Karman immediately replied, "Only to Colonel. Beyond that they don't work any more.”
― Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics