---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Where secrecy is known to exist one can…"
description: "\"“Where secrecy is known to exist one can never be absolutely sure that he knows the complete truth.\" Edward U. Condon”\" — Anonymous"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg"
---

#  Where secrecy is known to exist one can never be…

![“Where secrecy is known to exist one can never be absolutely sure that he knows the complete truth.&quot; Edward U. Condon” quote by Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg)

> ““Where secrecy is known to exist one can never be absolutely sure that he knows the complete truth." Edward U. Condon””

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Highlights that secrecy undermines confidence in knowing the full truth.

**In simple terms:** Secrecy prevents certainty about truth.

Key Takeaway

Question hidden information and seek transparency.

Themes

truth secrecy knowledge certainty skepticism

Mood

cautious inquisitive

Type

philosophical critical

When to use this quote

- journalism
- government policy
- research ethics
- personal relationships

Key Concepts

epistemology information theory philosophy of science

Questions to Reflect On

- How does secrecy affect trust?
- Can we ever know the whole truth?

A Different Perspective

Complete truth may be unattainable even without secrecy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Edward Condon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edward-condon-4000389/) [Known Exist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/known-exist-2621476/) [Secrecy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secrecy/) [Secrecy Known](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secrecy-known-2369510/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Edward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-edward-4000390/)

## Related quotes

> [Secrecy is what is known, but not to everyone. Privacy is what allows us to keep what we know to ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-lepore/secrecy-is-what-is-known-but-not-to-everyone-privacy-is-what-allows/)

[Jill Lepore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-lepore/)

> [By an incredible coincidence, Gamow and Edward Condon, who had discovered simultaneously and independently the explanation of radioactivity (one in Russia, the other in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-ulam/by-an-incredible-coincidence-gamow-and-edward-condon-who-had/)

[Stanislaw Ulam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-ulam/)

> [“The Council of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and therefore the things which are not known by all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-council-of-scholars-has-said-that-we-all-know-the-things-which/)

[Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/)

> [“You have always known they exist. Everyone feels their presence. Few know the truth. The world of Real Immortals is about to be revealed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-t-montgomery/you-have-always-known-they-exist-everyone-feels-their-presence-few/)

[John T. Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-t-montgomery/)

> [Fame is that which is known to exist by the echo of its footsteps through congenial minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-brownell-jameson/fame-is-that-which-is-known-to-exist-by-the-echo-of-its-footsteps/)

[Anna Brownell Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-brownell-jameson/)

> [Force is never more operative than when it is known to exist but is not brandished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-thayer-mahan/force-is-never-more-operative-than-when-it-is-known-to-exist-but-is/)

[Alfred Thayer Mahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-thayer-mahan/)

> [The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-backbone-of-surprise-is-fusing-speed-with-secrecy/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The mind of a wise man is the safest custody of secrets; cheerfulness is the key to friendship; patience and forbearance will conceal many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-mind-of-a-wise-man-is-the-safest-custody-of-secrets-cheerfulness/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The very word Secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-very-word-secrecy-is-repugnant-in-a-free-and-open-society/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“ Bene vixit, bene qui latuit. (to live well is to live concealed)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/bene-vixit-bene-qui-latuit-to-live-well-is-to-live-concealed/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Keep your relationship private, without keeping your partner a secret. There's a difference between privacy and secrecy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/keep-your-relationship-private-without-keeping-your-partner-a-secret/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/secrecy-is-the-first-essential-in-affairs-of-the-state/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Truth is literally that which is without secrecy, what discloses itself without a veil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/truth-is-literally-that-which-is-without-secrecy-what-discloses/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [There is only one sin. and that is theft... when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-only-one-sin-and-that-is-theft-when-you-tell-a-lie-you-steal/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

## More by Anonymous

> [And a tear rolled down her cheek, as she said goodbye; because she's walking away, and she's never looking back](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-a-tear-rolled-down-her-cheek-as-she-said-goodbye-because-she-s/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-ll-seldom-experience-regret-for-anything-that-you-ve-done-it-is/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Everyone needs someone to love, and I choose you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/everyone-needs-someone-to-love-and-i-choose-you/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Me.. I have been through a lot, but I still manage to have a smile on my face. Im not worried about the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/me-i-have-been-through-a-lot-but-i-still-manage-to-have-a-smile-on-my/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Distance is a test of love. many will fail for those who can't withstand it, but for those who can, theres only one answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/distance-is-a-test-of-love-many-will-fail-for-those-who-can-t/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Im sorry I ever tried...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/im-sorry-i-ever-tried/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Being betrayed by the one you love is the worst feeling in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-betrayed-by-the-one-you-love-is-the-worst-feeling-in-the-world/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Let children support their parents or be imprisoned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-children-support-their-parents-or-be-imprisoned/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The only person I've ever purposely caused pain here is myself...By simply sharing, caring too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-person-i-ve-ever-purposely-caused-pain-here-is-myself-by/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“Start a business, not a startup”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/start-a-business-not-a-startup/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

[Explore all 162,899 Anonymous quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

## More Secrecy quotes

> [“You can never let your compassion stand in the way of justice because when you do, other people get hurt.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-lynn-hope/you-can-never-let-your-compassion-stand-in-the-way-of-justice-because/)

[Donna Lynn Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-lynn-hope/)

> [Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/under-every-guilty-secret-there-is-hidden-a-brood-of-guilty-wishes/)

[George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/)

> [Our public officials have forgotten that they are ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office, that the information they keep in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoko-ono/our-public-officials-have-forgotten-that-they-are-ultimately/)

[Yoko Ono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoko-ono/)

> [Secrecy is as indispensable to human beings as fire, and as greatly feared.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sissela-bok/secrecy-is-as-indispensable-to-human-beings-as-fire-and-as-greatly/)

[Sissela Bok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sissela-bok/)

> [You are also asked to take an oath, and that's the oath of service. The oath of service is not to secrecy, but to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/you-are-also-asked-to-take-an-oath-and-that-s-the-oath-of-service-the/)

[Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/)

> [Nothing is so oppressive as a secret: women find it difficult to keep one long; and I know a goodly number of men who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-fontaine/nothing-is-so-oppressive-as-a-secret-women-find-it-difficult-to-keep/)

[Jean de La Fontaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-fontaine/)

> [Of course, corporations and governments have a right to something for their money. They pay the wages. But they don't have the ethical right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ralston-saul/of-course-corporations-and-governments-have-a-right-to-something-for/)

[John Ralston Saul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ralston-saul/)

> [I think Mitt Romney has demonstrated repeatedly he has a penchant for - for secrecy, doesn't seem to have any interest in actually showing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitt-romney/i-think-mitt-romney-has-demonstrated-repeatedly-he-has-a-penchant-for/)

[Mitt Romney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitt-romney/)

> [While the intelligence profession oftentimes demands secrecy, it is critically important that there be a full and open discourse on intelligence matters with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-o-brennan/while-the-intelligence-profession-oftentimes-demands-secrecy-it-is/)

[John O. Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-o-brennan/)

> [Power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-schorr/power-corrupts-and-there-is-nothing-more-corrupting-than-power/)

[Daniel Schorr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-schorr/)

> [Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/secrecy-and-a-free-democratic-government-don-t-mix/)

[Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/)

> [“The cliché that “everything leaks; it all comes out in the New York Times eventually” is emphatically not true, above all for sensitive compartmented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/the-clich-that-everything-leaks-it-all-comes-out-in-the-new-york/)

[Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/)

> [Who owns Cross Creek? The red-birds, I think, more than I, for they will have their nests even in the face of delinquent mortgages..It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings/who-owns-cross-creek-the-red-birds-i-think-more-than-i-for-they-will/)

[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings/)

> [With a woman, always make good use of a secret. She will be proportionally grateful to you, like a scoundrel who grants his respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/with-a-woman-always-make-good-use-of-a-secret-she-will-be/)

[Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/)

> [Just finished 'Secrecy' - truly enthralling both as a love story and as a tale of suspense - but much more than both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/just-finished-secrecy-truly-enthralling-both-as-a-love-story-and-as-a/)

[Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/)

[Browse all 483 Secrecy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secrecy/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Where secrecy is known to exist one can never be absolutely sure that he knows the complete truth.\" Edward U. Condon”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Anonymous"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can-never-be-absolutely-sure-that/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Secrecy"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can-never-be-absolutely-sure-that/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/anonymous-1_secrecy_where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can_2882043.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Where secrecy is known to exist one can never be absolutely sure that he knows the complete truth.\" Edward…” — Anonymous",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Anonymous",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Where secrecy is known to exist...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can-never-be-absolutely-sure-that/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/where-secrecy-is-known-to-exist-one-can-never-be-absolutely-sure-that/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
