"One of the absolute rules I learned in the war was, don't know anything you don't need to know, because if you ever get caught they will get it out of you"
About this Quote
The intent is partly practical counsel and partly moral scar tissue. “Don’t know anything you don’t need to know” isn’t anti-intellectual; it’s an emergency ethic. In resistance work and wartime networks, secrecy isn’t just a cloak, it’s architecture. The less any one person knows, the fewer people can be betrayed, accidentally or under duress. Pais avoids heroics and offers a colder truth: courage doesn’t cancel physiology. “They will get it out of you” refuses the comforting myth that sheer willpower makes someone unbreakable. It’s a sentence that strips away the romance of espionage and replaces it with human limits.
Subtextually, the quote also sketches a lifelong tension between science and security. Scientists are trained to connect dots; war teaches you to sever them. The chilling part is how portable the rule becomes: once you’ve lived in a world where information can end lives, the habit of self-censorship can linger, shaping how you speak, trust, and even think.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Pais, Abraham. (n.d.). One of the absolute rules I learned in the war was, don't know anything you don't need to know, because if you ever get caught they will get it out of you. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-absolute-rules-i-learned-in-the-war-34061/
Chicago Style
Pais, Abraham. "One of the absolute rules I learned in the war was, don't know anything you don't need to know, because if you ever get caught they will get it out of you." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-absolute-rules-i-learned-in-the-war-34061/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"One of the absolute rules I learned in the war was, don't know anything you don't need to know, because if you ever get caught they will get it out of you." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-absolute-rules-i-learned-in-the-war-34061/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
