Leó Szilárd quotes

Leó Szilárd was a Hungarian-American physicist and inventor, best known for his contributions to nuclear chain reactions and the Manhattan Project. His innovative thinking played a crucial role in the development of atomic energy and nuclear weapons. He later became an advocate for arms control and the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Here are 31 of his quotes:

Science is progressing at such a rapid rate that when you make a prediction and think you are ahead of your time by 100 years you may be ahead of your time by 10 at most.

Leó Szilárd

Even if we accept, as the basic tenet of true democracy, that one moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to go a further step and hold that two morons are better than one genius?

Leó Szilárd

If one knows only what one is told, one does not know enough to be able to arrive at a well-balanced decision.

Leó Szilárd

I'm looking for a market for wisdom.

Leó Szilárd

We turned the switch, saw the flashes, watched for ten minutes, then switched everything off and went home. That night I knew the world was headed for sorrow.

Leó Szilárd

A great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint, and we did not live up to this obligation. I think this affected many of the scientists in a subtle sense, and it diminished their desire to continue to work on the bomb.

Leó Szilárd

Don't lie if you don't have to.

Leó Szilárd

In life you must often choose between getting a job done or getting credit for it.

Leó Szilárd

In order to succeed it is not necessary to be much cleverer than other people. All you have to do is be one day ahead of them.

Leó Szilárd

You may assume infinite ignorance and unlimited intelligence.

Leó Szilárd

Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become.

Leó Szilárd

The most important step in getting a job done is the recognition of the problem. Once I recognize a problem I usually can think of someone who can work it out better than I could.

Leó Szilárd

A man's clarity of judgment is never very good when you're involved, and as you grow older, and as you grow more involved, your clarity of judgement suffers.

Leó Szilárd

The most important step in getting a job done is the recognition of the problem.

Leó Szilárd

The people who have sufficient passion for the truth to give the truth a chance to prevail, if it runs counter to their bias, are in a minority. How important is this "minority?" It is difficult to say at this point, for, at the present time their influence on governmental decisions is not perceptible.

Leó Szilárd

Even in times of war, you can see current events in their historical perspective, provided that your passion for the truth prevails over your bias in favor of your own nation.

Leó Szilárd

I'm all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.

Leó Szilárd

If you want to succeed in the world, you don't have to be much cleverer than other people. You just have to be one day earlier.

Leó Szilárd

In life you must often choose between getting a job done or getting credit for it. In science, the most important thing is not the ideas you have but the decision which ones you choose to pursue. If you have an idea and are not doing anything with it, why spoil someone else's fun by publishing it?

Leó Szilárd

Pronouncement of experts to the effect that something cannot be done has always irritated me.

Leó Szilárd

That night I knew the world was headed for trouble.

Leó Szilárd

It is not necessary to succeed in order to persevere. As long as there is a margin of hope, however narrow, we have no choice but to base all our actions on that margin.

Leó Szilárd