Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction.
Interpretation
Secrecy can lead to a habitual need to hide the truth, which can be difficult to break free from.
The quote by Edward Teller suggests that once we start keeping secrets, it can lead to a compulsive behavior where we continuously feel the need to conceal information. This addiction to secrecy not only affects our relationships and communication but can also create a barrier to trust and transparency, ultimately impacting our moral and ethical standings.
In practice
In a speech about transparency in government, you might use this quote to emphasize the dangers of hidden agendas.
In the history of physics, there have been three great revolutions in thought that first seemed absurd yet proved to be true. The first proposed that the earth, instead of being stationary, was moving around at a great and variable speed in a universe that is much bigger than it appears to our immediate perception. That proposal, I believe, was first made by Aristarchos two millenia ago ... Remarkably enough, the name Aristarchos in Greek means best beginning.
The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.
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.
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.
No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect.
I tried to contribute to the defeat of the Soviets. If I contributed 1%, it is 1% of something enormous.
I am a strong believer that without justice, there is no peace. No lasting peace, anyway.
Man is to man either a god or a wolf.
I am Oz, the Great and Terrible," spoke the Beast, in a voice that was one great roar. Who are you, and why do you seek me?
Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.
Justified or not, the Supreme Court has a kind of sacred status in American life. For whatever reason, Presidents can safely run against Congress, and vice versa, but I think there is an inherent popular aversion to assaults on the court itself. Perhaps it has to do with an instinctive belief that life needs umpires.
As the skies appear to a man, so is his mind. Some see only clouds there; some, prodigies and portents; some rarely look up at all; their heads, like the brutes,' are directed toward Earth. Some behold there serenity, purity, beauty ineffable. The world runs to see the panorama, when there is a panorama in the sky which few go to see.
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