Skip to content

Black magic Quote by David Kahn

Download Open image
““cryptology is black magic in itself springs ultimately from a superficial resemblance between cryptology and divination. Extracting an intelligible message from ciphertext seemed to be exactly the same thing as obtaining knowledge by examining the flight of birds, the location of stars and planets, the length and intersections of lines in the hand, the entrails of sheep, the position of dregs in a teacup. In all of these, the wizardlike operator draws sense from grotesque, unfamiliar, and apparently meaningless signs. He makes known the unknown.””

David Kahn

4.1 out of 5 (9 ratings)

More by David Kahn

Explore all 48 David Kahn quotes

More Black magic quotes

Browse all 132 Black magic quotes