#secrecy

If you have to keep a secret it's because you shouldn't be doing it in the first place ↗

— David Nicholls

#secret

The real thing about evil," said the Witch at the doorway, "isn't any of what you said. You figure out one side of it - the human side, say - and the eternal side goes into shadow. Or vice versa. It's like the old saw: What does a dragon in its shell look like? Well no one can ever tell, for as soon as you break the shell to see, the dragon is no longer in its shell. The real disaster of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret. ↗

— Gregory Maguire

#secrecy #two-sides-to-the-story #vice-versa #life

The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it; for, however absurd it may be thought to boast an honour by an act which shows that it was conferred without merit, yet most men seem rather inclined to confess the want of virtue than of importance. ↗

— Samuel Johnson

#self-importance #trustworthiness #vanity #men

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it. ↗

— Kate Adie

#democracy #good #information #never #secrecy

We are all, in a sense, experts on secrecy. From earliest childhood we feel its mystery and attraction. We know both the power it confers and the burden it imposes. We learn how it can delight, give breathing space and protect. ↗

— Sissela Bok

#both #breathing #burden #childhood #confers

Candidate Obama was either exceptionally naive or willfully disingenuous when he vowed to change the way Washington works. The very promise of Hope and Change was rooted in uprooting the Washington modus operandi. But instead of rejecting it, he embraced it all - the secrecy, the closed doors, the political favors, the near-criminal negligence. ↗

— Reince Priebus

#change #closed #disingenuous #doors #either

The higher the classification of secrecy, the quicker you will report it. ↗

— George P. Shultz

#higher #quicker #report #secrecy #will

Secrecy is the chastity of friendship. ↗

— Jeremy Taylor

#friendship #secrecy

The critic of the Adepts would form a truer opinion of their attitude if he did not look upon them as guardians of a treasure, grudgingly doling it out to applicants whose rights it was impossible to ignore or defy, but rather as trainers of racehorses, patiently trying beast after beast in the hope that one may ultimately be found that will win the Grand National. The Adept who accepts an unsuitable pupil is guilty of cruelty just as much as the rider who sends a horse at a fence it cannot take. ↗

— Dion Fortune

#secrecy #attitude

The corporations that profit from permanent war need us to be afraid. Fear stops us from objecting to government spending on a bloated military. Fear means we will not ask unpleasant questions of those in power. Fear permits the government to operate in secret. Fear means we are willing to give up our rights and liberties for promises of security. The imposition of fear ensures that the corporations that wrecked the country cannot be challenged. Fear keeps us penned in like livestock. ↗

— Chris Hedges

#fear #secrecy #death