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About this quote

What does it mean?
Any cipher created by human ingenuity can eventually be broken by human ingenuity.
In plain terms
If humans make a code, humans can break it.
What can you take from it?
No secret code is truly unbreakable.

Where it applies

  • discussing encryption
  • analyzing codes
  • teaching cryptography

Putting it to work

  • security audits
  • education
  • codebreaking

Questions to consider

  • Is true secrecy possible?
  • Who solves the riddle first?

Another view

It assumes equal ingenuity on both sides of the problem.

More from Edgar Allan Poe

  1. While, like a ghastly rapid river, Through the pale door A hideous throng rush out forever And laugh - but smile no more.

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  2. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.

    Permalink to quote #22
  3. In the greenest of our valleys By good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace - Radiant palace - reared its head.

    Permalink to quote #19

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