Who really said it
Wikiquote locates this warning about secrecy in Oppenheimer’s science address. A primary transcript was not directly inspected during this check.
Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?
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Unconfirmed quote & credit
“We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption” — J. Robert Oppenheimer
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Provenance
the wages of secrecy are corruption
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Read the source trailHow we verified this
The cited address and printing are from 1950–1951, not a pre-1931 publication.
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For writers & researchers
“Encouragement of Science,” address of 6 March 1950, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 7, no. 1 (January 1951), 6–8; cited by Wikiquote.
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/we-know-that-the-wages-of-secrecy-are-corruption/