Edward Teller Quotations

A state-of-the-art calculation requires 100 hours of CPU time on the state-of-the-art computer, independent of the decade.

The eyes of childhood are magnifying lenses.

No, I'm the infamous Edward Teller.

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.

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

Could we have avoided the tragedy of Hiroshima? Could we have started the atomic age with clean hands? No one knows. No one can find out.

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.

Knowing he [Bob Serber] was going to the [first atom bomb] test, I asked him how he planned to deal with the danger of rattlesnakes. He said, 'I'll take along a bottle of whiskey.' … I ended by asking, 'What would you do about those possibilities [of what unknown phenomena might cause a nuclear explosion to propagate in the atmosphere]?' Bob replied, 'Take a second bottle of whiskey.

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

In our educational institutions applied science may almost be described as a "no-man's land."