Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care.
—Isocrates, c. 370 BC
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Quotes
There is a sickness among tyrants: they cannot trust their friends.
—Aeschylus, c. 458 BCFor sooner will men hold fire in their mouths than keep a secret.
—Petronius, c. 60Even a paranoid can have enemies.
—Henry Kissinger, 1977The first duty of a good inquisitor is to suspect especially those who seem sincere to him.
—Umberto Eco, 1980I will never again command an army in America if we must carry along paid spies. I will banish myself to some foreign country first.
—William Tecumseh Sherman, 1863It was funny how I could feel all alone and under surveillance at the same time.
—Cory Doctorow, 2013Nothing is hidden from the eyes of the observing world.
—Aleksandr Pushkin, 1837Spies are of no use nowadays. Their profession is over. The newspapers do their work instead.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895