Whitfield Diffie quotes

Whitfield Diffie is an American cryptographer and pioneer in public-key cryptography. His work enabled secure digital communication and laid the foundation for modern internet security. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to computer science and cryptography. Here are 12 of his quotes:

People meet in bars after work all over the world and talk about the great problems of life and death and the world and politics and they don't take themselves seriously. They can do nothing else except chat about these things in bars after work.

Whitfield Diffie

Without strong encryption, you will be spied on systematically by lots of people.

Whitfield Diffie

I thought cryptography was a technique that did not require your trusting other people-that if you encrypted your files, you would have the control to make the choice as to whether you would surrender your files.

Whitfield Diffie

Some people make sharp distinctions sort of between their recreational musings and their professional work. I don't make that distinction very much.

Whitfield Diffie

I liked Berkeley tremendously, Berkeley was a very leftist campus. I came to love that city as much as I love Paris or the south of France or New York.

Whitfield Diffie

I understood the importance in principle of public key cryptography but it's all moved much faster than I expected. I did not expect it to be a mainstay of advanced communications technology.

Whitfield Diffie

If you have ambition, you might not achieve anything, but without ambition, you are almost certain not to achieve anything.

Whitfield Diffie

Two people can work on a problem better than one.

Whitfield Diffie

It's simply unrealistic to depend on secrecy for security in computer software. You may be able to keep the exact workings of the program out of general circulation, but can you prevent the code from being reverse-engineered by serious opponents? Probably not. The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets.

Whitfield Diffie

One of the things that characterizes good intellectual work is a certain self-importance.

Whitfield Diffie