"Vannevar Bush: No board in this country should sit in judgement of a man because he expressed strong opinions. If you want to try that case, you can try me."

"Danny Deferrari - Enrico Fermi"

"Members of the security board, the so-called derogatory information in your indictment of me cannot be fully understood except in the context of my life and my work."

"Harry Groener - Gale W. McGee"

"George Kistiakowsky: [referring to the Trinity Gadget] A month of my salary against ten bucks says it lights."

"Why go through all this against a man who’s accomplished what Dr. Oppenheimer has? Look at his record; we have an A-bomb and a whole series of it, and we have a whole series of Super bombs. What more do you want? Mermaids?"

"So here we are, lost in your quantum world of probabilities and needing certainty."

"You drown in ten feet of water or ten thousand, what’s the difference? We can already drown Russia, and they know it."

"[to Oppenheimer] About the only thing you and I share is a disdain for mathematics."

"[to Oppenheimer] When you speak, they hear a prophet. When Strauss speaks, they hear themselves...a prophet can’t be wrong. Not once."

"[to Oppenheimer] Take off that ridiculous uniform. You’re a scientist."

"You’ve served America well, and if this is the reward she has to offer, then perhaps you should turn your back on her."

"An H-bomb would be one thousand times the power of an A-bomb. The only intended target would be the largest cities. It’s a weapon of mass genocide."

"The power you are about to reveal will forever outlive the Nazis, and the world is not prepared."

"We have to make the politicians understand: this isn’t a new weapon, it’s a new world. I’ll be out there, doing what I can, but you.. you’re an American Prometheus - the man who gave them the power to destroy themselves - and they’ll respect that. Then, the work really begins."

"Algebra is like sheet music. The important thing isn't, "can you read music," it's "can you hear it.""

"[to Oppenheimer] You're the great improviser, but this you can't do in your head."

"Quantum physics is not a step forward; it is a new way to understand reality. Einstein's opened the door, [and] now we are seeing a world inside of our world; a world of energy and paradox that not everyone can accept."

"[to Edward Condon] You have just the rights that I give you - no more, no less!"

"Lilli Hornig: It’s no longer the enemy who are the greatest threat to mankind - it’s us. Our work."

"You drop a bomb, it falls on the just and unjust. I don't wish for the culmination for three centuries of physics to be a weapon of mass destruction."

"Amateurs seek the sun. Get eaten. Power stays in the shadows."

"Oppenheimer wanted to own the atomic bomb. He wanted to be the man who moved the Earth. He talks about putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle. Well I'm here to tell you that I know J. Robert Oppenheimer, and if he could do it all over, he'd do it all the same. You know he's never once said that he regrets Hiroshima? He'd do it all over. Why? Because it made him the most important man who ever lived!"

"Survival in Washington is about knowing how to get things done."

"He wanted the glorious insincere guilt of the self-important to wear like a fuckin' crown, and I gave it to him."

"[referring to the hydrogen bomb] If it could put us ahead again, the President of the United States needs to know about it. And if there’s a possibility that the Russians know about it from a spy at Los Alamos, then we’ve gotta get going."

"[referring to Oppenheimer] A lot of scientists blame me, but how was I supposed to protect him?"

"[referring to Los Alamos] Robert built that damn place. He was founder, mayor, sheriff all rolled into one."

"J. Robert Oppenheimer the martyr. I gave him exactly what he wanted. To be remembered for Trinity. Not Hiroshima, not Nagasaki. He should be thanking me."

"[to Oppenheimer, referring to Teller] You shook his fucking hand?!"

"You think because you let them tar and feather you that the world will forgive you? They won't."

"Phillip Morrison: But how do we justify using this weapon on human beings?"

"Haakon Chevalier: Robert, you see beyond the world we live in. There’s a price to be paid for that."

"Genius is no guarantee of wisdom."

"You don’t know scientists like I do, counselor. They resent anyone who questions their judgement, especially if you’re not one of them."

"I did what was right for this country. They don’t want me in the Cabinet Room? Maybe they should just invite Oppenheimer instead."

"[referring to the Chevalier incident] I’ve seen so many versions of it. I wasn’t confused before, but I’m certainly getting there now."

"[to Oppenheimer] You don’t get to commit the sin, then have us all feel sorry for you that it had consequences."

"The truly vindictive are as patient as saints."

"Guy Burnet - George Eltenton"

"Louise Lombard - Ruth Tolman"

"Harrison Gilbertson - Philip Morrison"

"David Rysdahl - Donald Hornig"

"Matthias Schweighöfer - Werner Heisenberg"

"Christopher Denham - Klaus Fuchs"

"Emma Dumont - Jackie Oppenheimer"

"John Gowans - Ward Evans"